Mack the Esteemer
by Shiva-J
Summary: On her first day at Lawndale Daria bumps into fellow prisoner of the Esteem course... Mack Mackenzie.
1. I

**Mack the Esteemer (I)**

"Don't be fooled," a nice deep bass voice emerged from behind her, "O'Neill has no idea what he's talking about, just zone out to the tone of his voice."

Daria turned around and saw that the person speaking to her was a boy about her age, African-American, wearing a black shirt and jeans, his hair was in dreadlocks, muscular and very...

"Handsome." She admitted to herself but didn't dare allow that assessment to show on her face.

Instead she asked, "How are we supposed to get anything out of this if even the teacher doesn't know what he's talking about?"

The boy smirked and laughed then said, "This isn't a real class, it's Ms. Li's way of punishing students who won't conform."

Daria made a sound at that and replied, "Ah, now things are crystal clear, this school's more screwed up than even I had thought."

The boy laughed again, "That's the truth, and I'm Mack by the way if you didn't know my name already."

Daria felt the hint of a smile on her flat features and replied, "Daria, Daria Morgendorffer."

* * *

In the growing night, Michael 'Mack' Mackenzie was walking at her side, having offered to fill her in on the torturefest that she was in for in Esteem Class.

"Then we get separated by gender and each taken to different rooms and I was told that the girls are told about body-image." Mack said but didn't explain how he knew that.

"What about the boys?" Daria asked and then wondered if that was a good question to ask.

Mack just smirked, "A bunch of guys and a male teacher? I'll let you figure that one out."

Daria just shuddered and fought in vain to suppress the images in her mind.

After a minute she felt brave enough to ask him, "So Mack... Why do they keep you in the Esteem Class? You said you passed it several times."

"Yeah I did," Mack replied nonchalantly, "But they're keeping me in there as a punishment since I won't play football."

"...You're not joking are you?"

"Nope," Mack said with a weary sigh, "They just don't get it, I hate football, I have zero desire to do it. But I played it in Middle School back when my parents weren't making much money since a football scholarship would have been the only route to college."

"Yeah but what changed?" Daria asked with growing curiosity.

Mack grinned like a cat that ate an entire cage of canaries, "My Mom won the instant lotto, over two million in fact. Even after taxes we had more than enough for a college fund so I can go pretty much anywhere, and my Dad used the rest of it to start up his own hardware supply store and it's making a killing."

Daria grinned at that, "So the instant you guys made it you said, 'screw football', right?"

"Oh yeah!" Mack said with happiness, "I entered Freshman year of High School with Ms. Li and Gibson all prepared for me to be on the team as the future Captain. Man it was fun to tell them to stick it where the sun didn't shine!"

Daria felt herself give him a rare half-smile in appreciation, "If only I had been a fly on the wall that day."

"There were some costs though," Mack conceded a bit more sadly, "A lot of my so-called friends ditched me, then my then girlfriend Jodie let her parents load herself up with extracurriculars and somehow thought I'd be there for her even though she wouldn't be there for me, ha!"

The pair then rounded the corner and came up to Daria's street, "It was then that Ms. Li and Manson cooked up the idea of 'fixing' my obviously low self-esteem and for 'some reason' I've been in the course ever since." He put the words 'some reason' and 'fixing' in air-quotes.

"What about real friends?" Daria asked with interest and Mack gave her a sly smile.

"Besides yourself Daria? Well I still talk to some of the guys on the team, even if they don't understand me anymore, I dated a couple girls after Jodie but it didn't work out." Mack then sighed at that, "I did have high hopes for one, but we were better off as friends, I'll introduce you later."

"Who is it?" Daria asked while wondering if she already had seen her or not.

"She's the girl in the red coat that doesn't talk to people, draws rude pictures of them and sleeps in class." Mack said cryptically but for some reason it clicked.

"Uh... Jane Lane right?" Daria asked and smiled when Mack nodded, "I remember DeMartino's role call and her lackluster hand gesture while sleeping."

Mack laughed as they reached Daria's address and grinned, "Cool, we live a couple houses from each other." Then he pointed out the house where he lived, two houses away and across the street.

Daria raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why here? Why not the Crewe Neck?"

"Remember that the money went to my college fund and my dad's business Daria," Mack explained, "This house was paid for by the money Dad made later."

"Ah," Daria breathed as they stood in front of the walkway that lead to her front door, "Well... I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked hopefully and Mack gave her a big smile.

"Yup," he said and after a minute where they both stood in awkward silence he waved and gave her a goodbye and walked on down to his home.

Daria stood there watching him with a wistful look on her face until he entered his front door and was out of sight.

She didn't see her mother in the window watching this with her lips parted in a gasp and a hand over her mouth, her eyes filling with hope for her antisocial daughter.


	2. II

**Mack the Esteemer (II)**

"My mom spotted us talking last night." Daria said after getting the greetings out of the way once she had exited the Morgendorffer residence and had shut the door behind her.

"Is this good or bad?" Mack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well I had to spend about an hour convincing her that we weren't dating," Daria replied slyly, "But it did distract her from her original goal."

"And what was that?"

"Mother-daughter bonding at Cashmans." Daria answered with a grimace that would look appropriate on a gargoyle.

Mack laughed, having picked up Daria's basic vibe within five seconds of having met her, "What about the redhead coming up behind us?"

"That's my sister Quinn," Daria explained, "Though she'll deny it to your face and claim that I'm her cousin."

It was Mack's turn to make a face but before he could reply, the girl in question caught up to them, unlike her older sister who avoided fashion like the plague, Quinn reveled in it, wearing the latest clothes from Junior 5.

"Darrria!" She crowed, "I can't _bu-leave_ that you landed a hottie!"

"Thanks, I guess." Mack said to that and Daria elbowed him, gave her sister a slight glare but said nothing.

Normally Quinn wouldn't risk being seen with her sister in public like this, since it would hurt her popularity, but a scoop _this big_ couldn't be passed up.

Daria noted her sister's composure and turned back around and whispered to Mack to move faster, desperate to escape the high pitched screech that her sister called a voice.

But a figure running up to them saved the day, her unfashionable red coat, shorts with black leggings, boots, and her ear piercings were enough to cause Quinn to scream in fear and put the pedal to the metal and run past them all before she was seen by other popular people.

"Hey Mack, and girl I've never talked to before!" Jane Lane said and took in the small, waifish girl in her green coat, yellow top, pleated skirt, doc martins, and oversized glasses, and smiled.

"I'm Daria Morgendorffer," Daria said and gave her a Mona Lisa smile, "And you must be the infamous Jane Lane, I'm surprised that you're not stuck in Self-Esteem class with us, you having a personality and all."

"I was for about four or five rounds," Jane said as she matched her pace to theirs, "But after me and Mack here broke up it got kinda awkward, pity since the freaks that pass through that room always made for good sketch subjects."

Daria and Mack laughed in unison at that, which made Jane smile again, and Daria found herself enjoying that grin.

The distant red brick prison loomed in the distance and the conversation involved the exchange of some basic personal information between the three of them, mainly for Daria's benefit so she could visit them and they could visit her whenever.

Then Self-Esteem came up again after Mack and Jane did a running commentary on the cast of madcap teachers that inhabited the halls.

"I think I have an idea on how to get us out of that class Mack," Daria said with a predatory gleam in her eyes as she eyeballed the school.

"How?" Mack asked, having heard several ideas before and knowing that the only one that would work was the one he would never do again, play football.

"You have the answers to the exit test memorized, right?" Daria asked and let herself smile darkly as they both nodded.

"Ok then," Daria replied as they reached the parking lot, passing by several other students as they prepared to enter High School Hell, "First we force O'Neill to give us the test today, and then..."

As she explained her plan, Mack and Jane found themselves grinning from ear to ear and by the time Daria had finished speaking, they were entering Lawndale High with a very rare feeling in their hearts.

That school was going to be _interesting_...

* * *

Daria discovered that school could fly by when you had the right company at your side, especially a snarking duo like Mack and Jane who were a damn sight better than her solo snark directed at Beavis and Butthead.

It had been fun telling them all about the Duo of Stupid, and her theories on how they came to be.

"And so after consuming the uranium laced water, the Motley Crue Roadies slept with Twannda the Slut and about Nine months later two strange boys with oversized heads were born." Daria explained and internally laughed at the twin looks of awe on their faces.

There was an odd downside that she hadn't expected though, being connected to Jane and Mack, especially Mack resulted in people noticing her existence, something she strove hard to avoid, but after the fifth person within a span of five minutes had come up and had asked what was going on, Daria was forced to concede to defeat.

For now.

After the Captain of the Football Team had walked away after asking Mack for some 'advice', and Mack had then handed him a small notebook full of football plays, Daria glanced and let her eyes ask her unspoken question.

"Jamie isn't very good with coming up with plays," Mack said with a shrug of his shoulders, "So the kid's been paying me on a weekly basis to come up with them for him."

"How much?" Daria asked.

"Thirty bucks a week." Mack replied with a grin.

"Nice." Daria said with a pleasurable hiss which vanished when she saw Mack and Jane's faces become very stoic and flat, almost like hers.

"Here comes brain cell death." Jane intoned and Daria turned around in time to see two figures approaching, a dopey looking jock boy in full football uniform, and a blond bombshell cheerleader, also in full uniform, for no discernible reason.

"This is going to be bad, isn't it?" Daria said at Jane from the side of her mouth and recived a head nod as an answer.

Daria mentally rolled up her sleeves, spat on her palms, and steeled herself for whatever was to come.

* * *

The rest of the day flew by, with the bumps coming from dealing with Kevin Thompson and Brittany Taylor, hearing students whisper about her and her two friends, and avoiding her sister Quinn and her new friends and their 'Fashion Club' since they wanted to know why another 'brain' had become attached to Mack.

The zany cast of faculty in the school also provided color commentary, between DeMartino's rants, O'Neill's even worse Hippy shtick, Ms. Butterbean's indifference to actual teaching, the repressed lesbian psychosis of Coach Morris, Bennett's incomprehensible drawings, and the talents of the art teacher Ms. Defoe (who was competent at her job), there was plenty of twisted entertainment to be had, not even counting the Principal, Ms. Li.

It slowed down to a trickle once the regular day ended and the second session of Self-Esteem Class had begun, and Daria spent her time a bit more constructively by double checking Jane's copy of the answers to the exit test, and drawing O'Neill has having a hunk of stinky cheese for a head.

But once they were dismissed, Daria glanced at Mack and mouthed, "Game on!"

He nodded and let her take the lead and followed her to the desk where O'Neill was still sitting, gathering his papers.

"Oh hi!" the New Agey man said in his fake-soothing voice, "Did you need clarification on something?"

Daria faked a warm smile and said, "We were feeling really good about ourselves Mr. O'Neill and we were hoping to take the Exit Test, you know when we're on a high note."

Mack in the meanwhile also gave a grin and nodded.

O'Neill began to hem and haw while thinking several things at once, "Well Mrs. Manson wanted Mack in here since his unwillingness to play sports was a sign of 'low self-esteem'... But if he's better now then it must mean that he'll sign up for it again, and having these youngsters happy means that I should be happy because my hard work has _paid off_!"

That clinched it.

"Well we don't normally go about it this way," O'Neill said even while scrambling for his copy of the test wtih the answers on it, "But since you two are clearly on the uptick..."

As O'Neill pulled out the papers, Daria felt her fake smile turn into a real one and thought, "The game begins..."

* * *

_Notes: Ms. Butterbean is a crossover character from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and we WILL see more of her, and special thanks to ThanatosRW for making Jamie White the Captain of the Lawndale Lions._


	3. III

**Mack the Esteemer (III)**

The next day at school found Daria sitting next to Mack in Science for their first hour period, while their teacher, Ms. Butterbean sat at her desk looking disgruntled at being awake, but still not bothering to teach them anything other than saying that the notes were on the board, the assignment listed next to it, and if they had any questions to refer them to the smart students.

"Why is she awake?" Daria asked Mack after having dealt with the other students in her time honored fashion of ignoring them, "For that matter how has she gotten away with her lassiez-faire teaching style?"

Mack replied with a grin, "The previous Science teacher was much worse."

"How?" Daria asked with a glance at Butterbean who was currently propping her high heeled feet on the desk with a copy of _Runway_ in hand.

"In my Freshman year we had a battleax of a teacher named Ms. Barch," Mack answered, "A mentally unstable Femi-Nazi who was fond of lashing out at the guys in her classes because her husband left her for a younger woman."

"Wow!" Daria exclaimed and Mack sighed at that.

"It gets worse." he stated and then continued, "One of the things she liked to do was mess with the grades of the guys and give the girls an easy pass. Unless you played sports, if you had a penis, all you could hope for was a D- so you would be sent out of class and that was it."

"How'd she get away with it?" Daria asked and glanced at the current teacher, who was adjusting her horn-rimmed glasses while reading her High-Fashion magazine.

"Ms. Li didn't give a crap, you know what she's like, right?" Mack asked and Daria nodded at that, having gotten the vibe that Li was rotten.

"But not this bad." Daria thought to herself.

"Well at any rate when I got here Freshman year and didn't join the team, Barch felt she had a free hand with me," Mack continued on, "Right around that time was when my Dad's business was starting to take off and he started to get some pull in the community, and after telling Li to buzz off and dumping Jodie I was on a roll of sorts..."

Mack's smile turned dark, "Then _someone_ snuck a video camera into Barch's classes for a couple weeks and recorded her antics and sent copies to the Superintendent, the Media, and the LPD."

Daria joined Mack for a dark chuckle and she completed the story for him, "So with a scandal looming, Li threw Barch out like a bad habit rather than risk a bigger investigation that might have uncovered... other things, right?"

Mack nodded, "Yup, and not coincidentally the investigation into Barch went through her entire teaching career and resulted in nine years worth of grading on her part being put under the magnifying glass, a lot of people found their GPA's bumped up retroactively."

Daria's Mona Lisa smile was wonderful to behold, "And did some get cash settlements for their trouble?"

Mack just answered, "Only the ones in the video, which is how I'm going to buy my first car, it's better than asking my Dad to do it or dip into the fund."

"Smart man." Daria answered as the door to the room opened and an excited Ms. Li rushed in and Butterbean moved with lighting speed to look professional.

Angela Li rushed to the front of the room and said in a voice of happiness, "Attention, young people. I have an exciting announcement. Grove Hills, the school for gifted and outstanding students, has issued invitations to our top student, Jodie Landon!"

She then clapped very loudly and everyone turned to stare at the lone figure at her own table in a corner of the room, harried and haggard looking, and her hair a tad askew, the otherwise beautiful black girl looked up and seemed relieved for a moment and plastered a big grin on her face that didn't match her eyes.

While Li continued to ooze congratulations, both to Jodie and herself, Daria turned to Mack and asked, "So what's up with Jodie?"

"Overworked, overstressed, overzealous, and a whole bunch of other overs but it would take too long to list them." Mack replied with a shrug and gave Daria a small smile.

"Sounds like my mother," Daria snarked and they both laughed at their little joke, which drew the attention of Li who said in a much less joyful tone, "I was going to ask the two of you to my office later, but now is a good a time as any."

Mack and Daria shrugged off the stares and whispers of the others and when Li motioned for them to get up and follow her, they complied.

"You did tell your mother, right?" Mack asked Daria in a whisper, using the commotion as a noise cover.

"Yes," Daria replied quickly, "Everything is in motion."

Mack's big smile at those words caused Daria's heart to nearly skip a beat and her face to flush a bit, but she kept on walking and didn't realize that she had a radiance about her that was drawing attention from everyone as they left.

None so much as Jodie Landon who stared at where they had exited long after they were gone, her face unreadable.

Ms. Butterbean had put her head into her hands on the desk the instant the door was closed and promptly fell asleep.


	4. IV

**Mack the Esteemer IV**

Daria and Mack took their seats, facing Ms. Li at her desk, video monitors covered an entire wall off to the side showing the going-on's of the school. But other than the large green Buddha statue on a bookshelf behind the Principal, there was nothing else of real note in the room.

As Ms. Li began to speak, Daria felt the object in her lap and knew that no matter what transpired today it would not be swept under the rug.

"..And while it is always a joy to see two pupils show the initiative in showcasing their social development, it would be remiss to allow the two of you to leave the Self-Esteem Course early as it might affect the process for the other students..." Li droned on, but Daria cut her off.

"So in other words you plan on forcing us to endure the full five weeks of torture even after proving that we know it all." Daria stated flatly.

"Ms. Morgendorffer," Li retorted, "The misanthropy that you exhibited in Manson's examination is proof enough that you need an attitude adjustment!"

While Li snorted at the end of the refrain, Daria hid her smugness and thought, "Keep digging the hole bitch..."

"And what about me?" Mack butted in casually, "No one here can say that I'm a misanthrope."

"Mister Mackenzie!" Li snapped at the interruption, "Whatever friends you have aside, your unwillingness to engage in student life at Laaaandaaaaleeee Hiiiighhhh is proof enough that you have serious problems!"

"You mean because I don't feel like wasting my time playing football." Mack replied and managed to hide his glee at getting her to this point so quickly.

"Well if you would just reconsider joining the team..." Li drawled much more sweetly than before and then snorted before adding, "I mean after all everyone knows that Jamie is buying plays from you and it's a major chore for him to keep Kevin Thompson from showboating on the field... And you had such skill at keeping the team focused on victory... And the rewards... ah the rewards..."

"Thanks but no thanks," Mack replied flatly, "I don't even like football and with my parents doing so well it's not like I need a scholarship to get into a good school so, yeah that's pretty much it."

Li's countenance turned dark and she snapped, "Funny thing about colleges is that they require good grades to get in and if your current academic prowess were to suddenly take a dip for the worse... Well the only way you'd get in, money or not, is being the best of the best on the gridiron."

"Are you threatening to flunk me if I don't play?" Mack asked in outrage, even while his insides were doing the conga.

Li smiled darkly and laughed and said, "I've been lenient with you before but now... yes... I am."

Daria suddenly slapped her desk and pushed her hand forward and smiled a very large and very disturbing smile as the Principal jumped in her seat.

"What is the meaning...!" Li began stammer.

Daria cut her off with, "My mother's business card."

It read, _Helen Morgendorffer: Junior Associate for Vitale, Horowitz, Riordan, Schrecter, Schrecter, and Schrecter._

Li blanched and then looked up and turned completely white, because Daria was now holding up a cellphone.

"My mother has been listening in to our conversation," Daria stated flatly, "And I gave her the Mackenzie's number as well, not sure if she got them to do a conference call but... I'm sure she'll give them the message."

Angela Li moaned and shuddered and seemed to crawl into herself all at the same time.

Mack for his part was no longer hiding his glee, his normally nice smile was extremely dark and far from finding Daria's very toothy grin disturbing, for some reason it kind of turned him on.

Daria held the cellphone to her ear and listened to it before saying, "Ok thanks Mom, I'll see you soon, goodbye."

She then hung up and put the technically against the rules device in her pocket and said, "She'll be here with Jim in a few minutes."

* * *

As soon as Helen had arrived with her boss at her side, Mack and Daria had been told to "Get lost, you'll avoid the shrapnel."

By the Magnificent bastard himself.

"Wow that guy is scary," Mack said partly to himself and Daria as they walked down the empty hallway, their ears ringing with the preliminary sounds of two high-powered lawyers going to work on someone, that someone who had barely managed to call in her own lawyer and was forced to wait for him to arrive.

"I'm just glad he's on our side," Daria replied, "I don't want to imagine what it would be like going up against him toe-to-toe."

They both shuddered as they arrived at their next hour class, which was DeFoe's art class, since Jane would be there, DeFoe was one of the cool teachers, and it would be good form to stick to the rules due to the shitstorm they had unleashed.

Ms. DeFoe took their passes with a smile and directed them to the only table available with seats since they were working on drawing three dimensional shapes.

Sadly Jane's table was already occupied, but she waved at them and clearly wanted to ask them what was up.

The available table had one occupant, Brittany.

Unusually for the perky cheerleader, she looked dejected and several attempts at drawing a cube were scattered about the table, but she perked up when she saw them and said, "Hi Mack, Hi Daria!"

They said hi in turn and took seats together on the other side of the table, but Brittany managed to remember what she had wanted to say to Mack earlier that day but had forgot, what was it again...?

"Oh by the way I'm having a party!" she squeaked at them with a big smile, cubes forgotten, "And you're invited of course."

"Uh... Do you mean Mack or myself?" Daria asked flatly, secretly toying with the bimbo and enjoyed Mack's silent chuckles at this.

"Uh... How about you come as Mack's date!" Brittany chirped and Daria's eyes went wide.

But before she could respond, DeFoe arrived and sighed at Brittany's attempts at drawing and gave her a new pad of paper and some pencils, and also supplied Daria and Mack with the same and watched them draw the assigned object within a matter of minutes.

"Very good you two," DeFoe said with pride, "You've truly captured what I was looking for, the illusion of depth."

Mack snarked, "I never planned to go into politics, but if I can create depth from nothing..."

"Don't do it," Daria mock-pleaded, "You still have a soul and everything."

The teacher laughed with them, and Brittany joined in to be part of the crowd, which made them laugh harder and she never understood why.

* * *

After the bell rang, they were joined by Jane Lane who was given the scoop and cackled with glee like a witch from a horror movie.

"Ah my pretties!" She said, "You are stirring up a nasty brew for Frau Li and her Glorious Reich, will this mark the end?"

Daria and Mack shrugged at that, not having a clue if it was enough to get her removed or if they'd wind up settling for a payoff.

"At the very least I'll be able to buy a car for myself," Daria said looking at the bright side, "It will give me some incentive to learn to drive if I own one."

Mack smiled and offered to help her learn since he was a couple weeks away from his license, and then for some reason felt like he had put his foot in his mouth.

Daria blushed at that and stammered a thank you, while Jane watched this and smiled wickedly.

Mack knew her well enough to know what that look meant and quickly distracted her by mentioning Brittany's party.

Jane didn't forget what had just happened, but went along with the distraction and replied, "Cool, so... Want me to crash it with you guys?"

"Of course." Daria spoke up, "What better way to unleash the dreaded unpopular vibes than in a group of three?"

They laughed at this and rounded the corner and didn't notice that they were being listened too by semi-popular girl Brooke, but she had only heard part of the conversation and her mind screamed at her to tell the more popular girls, Sandi and Tori the news right then and there.

She found them conversing with the rest of the fabulous Fashion Club, Tori clearly trying to join and Brooke squealed at them, "Sandi, Tori you won't believe this! Mack is going to Britt's party with those two brains, Jane and Daria as his dates!"

"What?!" The other girl's squealed in return and went into total gossip mode, purposely trying to be overhead by everyone in earshot, but Quinn's squealing was tinged with genuine shock.

"Is Daria like... Into guys _and_ girls?!" Quinn thought even while racking her brain for everything she knew about her sister and dating, namely how she avoided it like the plague and found herself concluding that Brooke might be right.

"Ohmigod!" Quinn thought, "I have to warn Mom and Dad before they, like, find them making out or something!"

She had no idea that one parental unit was closer than she thought.

* * *

In Bennett's economics class, Mack and Daria found themselves being call to the Principal's office, Li sounding quite ragged.

It was a quick walk, but when they reached the waiting room, Mack stopped in his tracks and said, "Mom, Dad?!"

"There you are!" Mack's mother said with relief and rushed over and hugged him with complete disregard for the law of the teenager.

After she pulled away, she glanced at the girl at his side and guessed that this was the other one mentioned by that high-powered lawyer who had called them that morning to inform them of the developing situation.

Introductions were made, Mack's mother, Linda Mackenzie was a stately looking woman, her skin as dark as midnight, her husband George was a bit lighter in complexion, a bit portly and balding but with an affable demeanor.

"Son..." George began but trailed off, his wife picked up the slack.

"Why didn't you tell us about all this?" she asked and pointed at the office, the occasional loud sound could be heard from behind the thick doors.

"I didn't want to worry you," Mack replied sheepishly, "Besides, Li never pushed this hard until today and the self-esteem thing took up less time than football practice so... I just kinda used it as an extra study hall."

Daria carefully avoided a grin at that white lie, she had it from Jane that he used the course as 'Nap time'.

"Well you're not taking that... that... crap course anymore!" Linda said firmly but with a grin, "That woman... Helen Morgendorffer and Vitale are seeing to that, and a bunch of other stuff."

"Is Li going to be axed?" Daria asked from the background, surprising Mack's parents, who only now began to take in the strange girl who had set all of this in motion.

Daria felt very self-aware at the attention and instinctively shifted a bit closer to Mack for support, who followed his own instincts and put and arm around her.

Everything stopped for Daria at that moment and she started to freeze up but then felt herself relax and Mack smiled at that, his father didn't see it but his mother did but said nothing about it.

Instead she replied, "Not sure... Li's lawyer arrived and it seems like they might reach a settlement, you'd think that between that bitch Barch and this crap it would be enough to see her gone for good but..."

She then shrugged with a grimace of disgust, "It is what it is..."

Daria made a face, "We don't know that right now so let's reserve judgment."

Linda raised an eyebrow at that, "Good advice, Daria."

She was careful in her pronunciation of the girl's unusual name, having a feeling that it was mangled a lot to her annoyance.

"Do you want us to pull you out of classes for the day?" George asked suddenly, "I have to admit I need to get back to the store soon, but your mother could take you wherever."

Daria and Mack glanced at each other and considered it for a moment, however Mack answered, "Nah, l think going about the normal routine would be a good thing."

"Well alright then," George replied with some reluctance before glancing at his wife who nodded and he gave his goodbyes and left at top speed.

Linda smiled at her husband's retreating figure and muttered something to herself but it was too low-toned for the kids to hear.

Instead she said more loudly, "I think your mother wanted to speak to you Daria but she's going to be busy for a while..."

A loud yell that sounded like Li was very audible at that moment and they all winced at it before laughing.

"Story of my life," Daria replied before adding, "It was nice to meet you Mrs. Mackenzie."

"The pleasure was mine Daria," Linda replied with a small smile for the strange girl and thought to herself, "It's been a long time since a girl talked Mack into anything like this..."

Her son and Daria both said bye and left quietly, leaving Linda alone to her thoughts.

* * *

_Note: Jim Vitale (the 'Magnificent Bastard') is a fandom nod to Scissors MacGillicutty's Where's Mary Sue When You Need Her?_


	5. V

**Mack the Esteemer (V)**

As a mass of garbled rumors struck the school, Daria and Mack and Jane were oblivious at first to the supposed Daria/Mack/Jane polygamous relationship.

At until Brittany rushed up to them with Kevin in tow and said, "Wow it's true!"

"What's true?" Mack asked with a vague sort of curiosity while Daria and Jane both glanced at each other and Jane whispered to Daria, "Be ready with your snark."

"Always am, Jane." Daria answered back without missing a beat, and Jane was glad that the vibe she had gotten off of Daria was correct.

She could hang with this girl.

Then Kevin dropped the bombshell.

"You're dating Daria and Jane Mack Daddy!" Kevin said in awe that didn't dissipate even after Mack punched him in the arm and instinctively told him not to call him that.

Then the words clicked in his head.

"…Wait what?!" Mack said with a stupefied expression, like he had been hit in the face with a hammer.

Brittany repeated it for his benefit while Kevin rubbed his arm, having already forgotten why Mack had punched him in the arm.

"What?!" the three of them said in unison.

"We're not dating." Daria said flatly, "We're all just friends."

Jane nodded at that and added, "Yes and I already dated Mack and we broke up, remember?"

"Well yeah but…" Brittany began while twirling a finger in her blond hair, "Mack is a catch even though he doesn't play football anymore, I mean who could resist?"

Then she realized that Kevin was standing next to her and, for once, was paying enough attention to hear what she was saying.

"Oh I um mean… um…" Brittany stammered under the angry glare of her boyfriend before giving up and squeaking, "Eep!"

Kevin then stalked off in a huff and Brittany followed him spewing apologies.

"That's rare," Jane commented, trying not to think about what she had just heard, "Normally it's Kevin that says something dumb and Brittany hits him."

"Wait, is he going to hit her instead?" Daria asked with confusion and reluctant concern for the blond bimbo.

"Nah," Mack replied, "That's not Kevin, he'll just be angry until he forgets and Brittany sneaks them into a supply closet for some TLC."

Daria shuddered, "Don't tell me the squishy details, I don't want to imagine those two breeding."

It was Mack and Jane's turns to look disturbed, "Those two with kids?" Mack said with a shudder of his own.

"It doesn't bear thinking about." Jane added with a firm nod and the three of them walked onward.

* * *

After school was over, Daria and Mack walked home together and enjoyed a calm before the storm, Mack felt bold enough from the day's events to invite her over for dinner at his parents' house.

"Sure," Daria replied and surprised herself in the process but added a caveat, "I'll just need to make an appearance at home first."

"No problem." Mack replied kindly, "Want to subject me to the full horrors of the Morgendorffer clan? You know make us even?"

Daria managed a small smile, "Sure."

Once they reached their street, Mack followed Daria into the house and found that they were not alone in the house.

Quinn was downstairs with the other members of the Fashion Club, Sandi Griffin, Stacy Rowe, Tiffany Blum-Deckler, and a prospective member named Tori Jericho, a mound of clothes were in front of them and they were testing Tori's knowledge of styles without seeing the labels.

They looked up and saw that girl that lived with Quinn with Mack at her side and Tiffany drawled first.

"Woooowwww ittttt'ssss truuuueeee…"

"Ohmigod!" Quinn gasped with her eyes going wide, "Daaaaaria's a bisexual! Our parents are gonna freak!"

Then she realized that everyone was staring at her and recalled the way she had phrased their relationship and went into spin mode.

"I mean her adoptive parents!" Quinn added with a nervous laugh, and the other FC'ers raised eyebrows at that.

Even Tiffany.

Mack spoke up, "You know it's not healthy or mature to say crap like that, especially in front of your own flesh and blood."

Quinn began to respond to this but the front door opened again and Helen Morgendorffer stepped in, looking exhausted by triumphant.

"Oh hello girls!" She chirped with a big grin even while registering Mack's presence and even while talking was glad that Daria was opening up enough to date.

"It took some doing but the school district is going to pony up big-time to avoid a major lawsuit over Li's blackmail attempt." Helen said to them while rushing to the loveseat and crashing on it with a sigh of relief.

"Is Li getting shit canned?" Daria asked even while the other girls looked confused at this.

"Daria don't talk that way," Helen said instinctively and then added, "And no, Principal Bitch had enough pull to save her job, but from what the Superintendent said she's already had a major incident before this and is now on very thin ice, one more screw up like this and she's fired."

Helen then laughed wickedly, "That'll show'em not to mess with me or my family!"

Quinn went over to Daria and asked her quietly what this was about.

Daria and Mack both took in the looks of their audience and supplied the context and enjoyed the looks of awe on their faces.

Even Sandi and Tori were impressed.

"Wow!" Stacy squealed, "You two like, managed to sock Li in the gut, hard!"

"Yeeeaaahhhh." Tiffany said with her attention focused on Daria and Mack, having understood the gist of what was going on, a rarity.

Sandi had more practical advice, "You know with the money that you'll be getting out of the district, you could like buy really cool cars and stuff." Before Daria could reply to that, Helen said, "Most of the money will be going into the college funds but… Since Daria will be sixteen soon we could take a

couple thousand and use it for a good first car."

Daria nodded at that, not wanting to go over the top and lose that kind of money, "I get to pick the car though."

"Deal." Helen replied from the loveseat and looked like she wanted to nod off, but her cellphone went off.

"Hello?" she said and then did a double take, "Jim?!"

"Who?" Quinn replied with confusion.

Daria replied, "Jim Vitale." And then when she was still confused added, "Mom's boss."

In the meanwhile Helen talked to her boss, "Well yes… Why thank you for that! No no Mr. Vitale you have no idea how grateful I am that you took this on yourself…"

Helen then smiled in pure triumph and said, "Thank you!"

Then after saying goodbye she jumped off the couch and cheered, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" and did a fist pump in the air.

Then she noticed that everyone in the room was staring at her like she was insane and said to them contritely, "I just got good news from the office."

"Did you make partner?" Quinn asked with hope, knowing that Mom would make more money and that would mean an increase in her allowance and her shopping budget.

"Not quite," Helen replied, "But I'm on the fast-track due to such a big early success, I'll be working under the other founder of the firm, Ian Horowitz instead of Eric."

"Cool," Daria replied, "Maybe he won't call you at three in the morning like your current boss."

"We can only hope." Helen replied honestly, having secretly found Eric's fast dependence upon her a bit disturbing.

After that Helen said that she would be taking a nap and told the girls that her husband would be handling dinner if they wanted to stay for it.

"Uh Mo-om," Quinn whined, "We're going to a party tonight, remember?"

"Oh right," Helen replied wearily, "Well leave your father a note and make sure to be back by curfew."

She then glanced at Mack Mackenzie, his parents had been very nice people and from the information she had managed to collect on them at short notice they were up and coming entrepreneurs who ran Mackenzie Hardware and Supply.

"And their son was a football prodigy in Middle School," Helen reminded herself, "Even if he doesn't want to play now, he's obviously keeping in condition and is intelligent and polite as well…"

As she went up the stairs, Helen smiled as she concluded with, "Daria you've done well."

* * *

After the parent had left the room, the Fashion Club went into emergency dress up mode, but Sandi heard Mack and Daria talking as they went upstairs and asked them to come back down.

"You guys are going to the party?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and they answered in affirmative.

"If that's all…" Daria began while backing away, looking for an escape.

"So are those rumors true?" Sandi asked, loving juicy gossip like this.

"No." Daria and Mack both replied, and then looked at each other since they had spoken in unison.

Mack cleared his throat and said, "Jane and I broke up a while ago, Remember? As for me and Daria, we're just friends."

He felt a touch downcast when he said that last part and didn't know why.

Sandi suppressed a sniff at that, having seen their body language and had read the signs.

"Well either way you two need to dress for it," Sandi replied and snapped her fingers and her minions moved in sync, Quinn in particular had a very wicked grin on her face.

Daria looked around for an escape but that distraction was all that the Fashion Club needed.

They pounced.

* * *

In her room, Jodie sat in a chair facing her vanity mirror, it was the first quiet she had had at home since getting back from school.

Between Evan's crying, her parents bragging about Grove Hill's, and Rachel complaining about being sent to the Griffins instead of coming with them, it was enough to drive someone up the wall.

"At least I won't have to do anything this weekend." Jodie said to herself, "And if I get in, all I'll have to focus on is studying."

"And…" She began as she tried to list the bright sides, "I won't have to see _him_ walking around happy with his life…"

She felt tears begin to stream down her face and tried to suppress them but failed miserably and went over to her bed and curled up into a ball and bawled her eyes out.

It took a long time for her to compose herself.

But when she did, the first thing she did was grab the eye drops, the redness would be a dead giveaway, changed into fresh clothes and began to do her makeup.

"At least I was able to talk them into letting me go to Brittany's party," Jodie thought to herself, "Mom at least thinks that I need some normal teen experiences under my belt."

Ms. Landon tried not to think of the fact that the only reason her mother thought this way was due to the fact that they needed to 'Keep up appearances'.

She was so sick of appearances, but when push came to shove she just bottled it all up into a dark corner of her heart and kept herself on track.

"It's what's expected of me." Jodie reminded herself, "Failure is not an option."

Thoughts of Mack emerged again, but she fought them off, reminder of failure wasn't what she needed right now.

Right now she was going to a party, maybe the last one in Lawndale for her.

She had to look good for it.

There wasn't a choice.


	6. VI

**Mack the Esteemer (VI)**

She tried to fight them off but it was in vain, the Fashion Club and their new minion shanghaied her up the stairs and ignored her protests, Mack trailed them uncertainty but Sandi stopped him at the door to Quinn's room.

"No boys allowed," She said in her nasal tone, "But could you get us all Chinese?"

"Uh..." Mack began before she shoved some money into his hands and then shut the door in his face and locked it quickly.

He sighed and didn't see much choice in the matter, so he left the house and borrowed his Dad's keys and left a note telling them that he was eating out with friends, leaving the details vague on purpose.

A quick trip to the local Chinese place, the Good Time Chinese Restaurant, resulted in him returning with a bounty of food for himself and the girls and hoped to God that Daria hadn't killed them in the process.

"I'm back!" He yelled through the door, "The foods in the kitchen."

"We'll be out in a second!" the muffled voice of Quinn Morgendorffer sounded through the door, and Mack heard Daria's monotone voice intone, "Free at last, free at last..."

Mack smirked and headed back down the stairs and to his surprise really did only have to wait a couple minutes for the Fashion Club to come on down with their prisoner hidden behind Stacy and Tiffany for the big reveal.

"It took quite a bit of effort but we have made Quinn's _sister_ presentable." Sandi said with pride, emphasizing sister while giving Quinn an ugly look and enjoyed her squeak.

Stacy and Tiffany then moved apart like a stage curtain and Mack gasped at what he saw.

Daria stood looking _very_ disgruntled wearing an aqua blue belly shirt with a cute cartoon cat's face as a logo, fashionably frayed light blue jeans, flawless makeup, a silver bracelet, and at her insistence fashionable high heeled boots.

Only the glasses a lonely remnant of her previous anti-fashion look.

"Daria..." Mack breathed with his eyes the size of saucers, his face as stunned as someone that had just been shot, "Wow!"

She blushed at that and held herself with her arms, clearly missing her coat.

Tori spoke up at that moment, "We didn't have a suitable replacement for her glasses nor a set of contacts, which I recommend you get Daria because you have really pretty eyes."

"Tooootaaaalyyyy." Tiffany drawled in agreement.

While the others voiced their agreement with this, Daria flushed further and clearly looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"I don't think so," Mack said suddenly, his voice coming back to him, "They look just fine to me."

While the Fashion Club began to explain why those manstoppers were a complete Fashion don't, Daria gave him a beautiful smile, which only Mack got to see.

After that as the FC'ers sat down and began to eat the food Mack had brought them, reality for him focused solely on Daria who had taken a seat across from his, and for some reason she couldn't tear her gaze away from his as well.

Of the others there, they all noticed this to one degree or another, while Sandi contemplated ways to get Daria into the Fashion Club as a dig against Quinn, Tori was calculating how popular she would become with her new look, Stacy was so happy that she was able to help someone like this, Tiffany was mesmerized by Daria's bracelet and how shiny it was.

Quinn however was truly seeing how Daria was looking at Mack, and how he was looking at her, and was in complete and total amazement.

"My Gawd!" Quinn thought to herself as she picked at her food, "They are totally into each other!"

It was so surreal to the fashion obsessed girl to see her older, less fashionable and social sister like this, and that she, Quinn Morgendorffer had helped to push things along.

"It's like that fairy tale Cinderella," Quinn thought, "I mean even though the dress she was put in was, like, hideous, she still got the Prince in the end... I did a better job than that Fairy Godmother."

She was proud of herself for that.

* * *

After a strangely magical dinner, the girls of the Fashion Club were picked up by Jamie White and his friends while Mack lead Daria to his car, offering a gentlemanly arm that after some initial hesitation, Daria took.

"Think we could get away with bailing on the party?" Mack teased as he drove away from the Morgendorffers.

"At this point if we tried it the Fashion Club would hunt us down and skin us alive." Daria replied with a shudder at the memory of the horrors she had endured at their hands, the waxing, the facials, the constant change of clothes, and the makeup.

Daria hated makeup, it felt wrong on her face, a constantly spoken lie that turned her into an object than a person.

Then Mack reminded her of the other member of their group for that night.

"We just have to pick up Jane first." he said as they pulled up in front of a large and strangely neglected looking house with weird statues in the front.

"She's going to snark the hell out of me isn't she?" Daria asked as Mack honked the horn.

He glanced at her again and without missing a beat replied, "Yup."

* * *

After Jane's shock had worn off, and she squeezed the story out of them, the way her ruby red lips had curled was warning enough of what was coming.  
Until they reached the Crewe Neck, Jane Lane had fun teasing Daria about her new appearance.

"I mean since your little miss popular now, mind sending me a cute football player my way?" She asked as Mack put the car in park, having listened to this during the trip and thankful that Jane hadn't dragged him into this.

Daria just grumbled, having run out of responses a while ago.

Mack got out of the car first and swung around to the other side and before Daria got out, he asked Jane quietly, "Could you lay off a bit? She's having enough of a bad time as it is."

Jane gave him a considering look and replied with reluctance, "Sure Mack... Anything for the lover boy."

"What?!"

"Psyche!" Jane replied with the teasing grin back on her face as Daria got out of the car.

Lucky for them she hadn't heard what was spoken, but guessed that Jane was now teasing Mack and was glad for the break.

To change the subject as they walked to the security guard's booth Mack asked Jane about her brother.

"Oh Trent's doing fine," she replied dismissively, "He's practicing his guitar playing."

"You mean passed out with his guitar in his hands." Mack replied with a small smile at her slacker musically inclined brother.

"Same thing." Jane replied with a shrug as they reached the booth.

After some talking they discovered that Jane really _was_ on the guest list and was listed as Mack's date... Along with Daria.

The guard gave Mack a whistle of approval and waved them through, Daria and Jane both gave each other a look and then glared at Mack as if it was his fault.

To which he replied, "Just think, the talk will get worse once we arrive together."

Daria grumbled but Jane got that look in her eyes and she said, "Well in that case... We might as well have some fun at their expense."

Daria and Mack both looked at her with curiosity and Jane explained, "We act like we're dating Mack together and mock them behind their backs for falling for it."

To her credit, Daria tried to consider alternatives but Jane's wild idea did have some merit, so she surrendered in defeat and said morosely, "Well I suppose it beats endlessly explaining why we're not in a Mormon Marriage."

This elicited a chuckle from the others as they reached Brittany's front door and rang the bell, they were greeted by the bouncy cheerleader herself.

"Hi!" Brittany squeaked with her boobs bouncing away, Mack carefully looking away and wound up staring at Daria instead and noticed the hell out of her busty chest line and wondered how she had managed to hide it.

Brittany then stared at the strange girl in the blue shirt, not seeing Daria anywhere nearby, and slapped Mack in the face, hard.

"Ow!" Mack cried in protest.

"What was that for?!" Daria and Jane said in unison and Brittany did a double take.

"Whoa!" she breathed in surprise, "Daria... You... You got a makeover!"

She then jumped up and down and let them in the house, the slap forgotten on her part, and instead squealed to her guests, "Mack's here with Jane and Daria and Daria got a complete makeover!"

The various partygoers stared at Brittany, most of them wondering for a sec what she was talking about until they saw Mack Mackenzie with two girls on his arm.

One was Jane Lane, the weird girl that didn't talk to people, the other one was hot and... and...

Kevin said it first, "Holy shit! Brit's right! Daria got _hot!_"

From the back of the room, the full Fashion Club emerged and Sandi said loudly and with pride, "Yes, and it was the Fashion Club that ensured her transformation from a Brain and into a Hottie!"

The crowd cheered in approval, even while Daria inched closer to Mack and asked him if there was somewhere quiet in the house, away from the people.

Mack smirked, "I have an idea."

* * *

In the laundry room, Daria sighed as she sat down on the tiles with Mack and Jane and said, "I'm going to be mobbed again, aren't I?"

"All signs point to... yes." Jane snarked at her side and Daria sighed again.

"Great," she moaned, "I went from not being noticed and liking it to sex candy to be eye humped."

She then glanced at Mack, "And are you going to deny liking this?" she then motioned her hand up and down her now very fashionable self.

"Well I'd be lying if I said no," Mack admitted without shame, "But I saw you long before this and I... I liked what I saw then."

"Really?" Daria asked out of curiosity, and Mack nodded emphatically.

"Yeah," he breathed while inching closer, "When you first arrived at DeMartino's room you always had something to say, even if he didn't want you to show off."

Daria and Jane both laughed at that, even though Jane had been asleep that day.

"Then in Self-Esteem you spoke up against O'Neill's faux New Age crap that even he didn't understand," Mack continued, now sitting next to Daria with his body pressed up against hers, "Granted it did end nap time, but it ended it in a good way, no wait, the best way."

Under this sort of attention, far from wilting, Daria felt rather good, in fact she didn't mind Mack's touch at all, in fact she reached forward and held his hand, tentatively to be sure at first but then more firmly of her own accord.

Jane in the meanwhile had pushed away a bit and was watching the scene unfold quietly, her smile one of approval.

"Thanks," Daria replied quietly, "I've never been complimented like this before."

"Don't mention it," Mack replied softly and noticed the hell out of her pretty lip gloss covered lips, and Jane smirked at the tent in his pants but held back the chuckles.

Daria in the meanwhile was drinking in Mack's big soft brown eyes and dark skin, the strength of his hand grip, and wondered later if she hadn't experienced an out of body experience as she rose up to his height and... and...

Softly pressed her lips upon his and experienced her first kiss with anyone in her life.

The first rational thought that Mack had was that her lip gloss was cherry flavored, but that came a bit later, as he used his tongue to show Daria how to properly kiss someone and discovered that she was as quick a study with this as she was her schoolwork.

After what felt like forever, they pulled away, and then remembered that _Jane was still in the room._

But far from mocking them, her smile was as big and beautiful as Daria's had been and she said, "You two are so cute together... Now let's get out of here so I can puke, unless you want me to join in?"

Daria blushed while Mack laughed at that, then he recalled something from earlier that night when Quinn had freaked out in the Morgendorffer's living room.

"Daria didn't deny the Bisexual thing." Mack thought to himself as they got up off of the floor, "I mean she and Jane have only just met but... Is it possible?"

He shoved the question to the side before it took him to places that would most likely end in heartbreak, he had just gotten to first base with Daria, why make it more complicated than that right now.

Right?

* * *

The three of them left the laundry room feeling as light as air and reluctantly rejoined the party, if for nothing else than the free food, but there were even more stares and whispers than before.

"Hmm... You'd think they'd be bored of it by now." Jane muttered as they discovered the snack table and it's two different kinds of chips.

But before they could load up, a very slimy oozing voice emerged from behind them, "Hello Mack the Man and his two lovely ladies!"

The three of them turned to face a scrawny nerdy boy with big ears, a shock of red hair, freckles, and a creepy vibe that should have set off AMBER alerts across five states.

"Go away Upchuck." Jane said very flatly and with hostility, but the boy ignored her and said, "I suppose enjoying their attentions would leave one... famished afterward."

"What do you mean?" Daria replied with a hostile tone but a touch of curiosity that she regretted when Upchuck purred and replied, "Well you three were spotted leaving the... make out room... grrr... feisty!"

Jane and Daria both froze in shock and stared at Mack who just shrugged and said to them, "You two were the ones that wanted to poke fun at these people, right?"

"True," Jane conceded, "But..."

Daria for her part was quiet but she then glanced at the pathetic creature in front of her and boldly said, "Well you are only half correct Upchuck, Mack and myself did kiss, not make out as you crudely put it, Jane was our captive audience."

Upchuck growled again while Mack and Jane stared at their friend in surprise at her audacity and wondered if the clothes were getting to her head.

Daria sniffed and turned her back to Upchuck just in time to see a fist flying at her face.

There was a flash of blinding pain and the last thing that she heard was a scream of, "WHAT THE HELL JODIE?!"

Then she slipped into unconsciousness.


	7. VII

**Mack the Esteemer (VII)**

"Thank you doctor." Daria managed to say through the haze of pain in her head and looked in the direction where she thought he was standing, she didn't have her glasses on and wasn't quite sure where they were.

She had woken up in a strange bed in a gown and through her blurry vision had seen that Mack and Jane had been playing some sort of card game at a table but had come towards her quickly and answered her questions as best they could.

"Let's see," Daria thought to herself in a mental review, "Mack's old girlfriend from a freaking year ago decided that now would be a good time to express her displeasure at the situation and I was the target."

She tried to laugh but the pain that shot up through her nose was enough to dissuade her of that.

The psycho had managed to break her nose and her glasses in the process, nothing major that wouldn't heal in time but due to the circumstances she was going to be held for 24 observation just in case of any unseen damage.

That thought terrified her in ways that not even she could have imagined.

Mack had buzzed for the doctor soon after that, and who then had given her the medical version of events to her and informed her that her family were already there but...

"She's on the phone with her lawyer," the unseen figure explained sheepishly, "And due to the noise level we asked her to take the call outside."

"What about Dad?" Daria had asked nervously.

"He had to take your sister back home, she has to go to school tomorrow." The doctor had answered and Daria was certain that Mack and Jane were both given some sort of look at that.

After he wrapped up the talk and had left, Daria then pressed them for more details, especially after she had been knocked out cold.

She learned that after she had fallen to the floor, Jodie had tried to move in to do God knows what else but Jane had moved swiftly and proceeded to beat the living hell out of Jodie with Quinn and _Sandi Griffin_ of all people jumping right into the fray, Mack had pulled her body away from the violence while Brittany and a whole bunch of football players pulled everyone apart.  
Just in time for the cops to show up.

"Thankfully Brit didn't serve booze at this party," Jane said gratefully, "The last party she did that had alcohol turned into a mini-riot that resulted in the cops showing up."

"And it happened again when we were all stone-cold sober." Daria said without mirth.

Then the subject turned to the culprit, Jodie Landon.

"I never, ever could have imagined Jodie doing that." Mack told her sincerely, "I dated her from 8th grade to the start of Freshman year and this... this was completely out of left field."

"I know," Jane had added with some shock still evident in her tone, "She was always 'Little Miss Perfect', the consummate poster child of the hard-working studious student who never did anything wrong..."

She then snarked, "I guess that's out the window."

"Yeah I know." Daria replied with a wince of pain again.

"...Sorry." Jane offered up but Daria waved it off.

"It's ok," Daria stated, "I could use some sarcastic humor right now."

Mack answered, "No problem Daria, and I called in that rain check of mine with my parents so I have tomorrow off from school, Jane did the same so we'll be here for you."

Daria tried to wave that off, "I don't want you to waste your time on my account."

"You are never a waste of time Daria." Mack told her kindly and was rewarded with a soft, warm half-smile.

"Dwaaaaa." Jane teased them and laughed when they told her to shut it.

"I think I'll go get us some sodas," Jane told them as she got up from the chair she had pulled up next to Daria's bedside, "You two have fun and I'll be back whenever."

As soon as the door was closed shut, Daria blushed and tried to mutter a comeback but it just wouldn't come to her.

Mack for his part scooted his chair back a bit to give her some space and waited for her to speak.

When she did it was to ask him for a glass of water, which was easily arraigned, after taking a big drink she asked, "Where are my clothes?"

"In a locker on the otherside of the room." Mack answered, hoping she wasn't planning anything foolish.

"Ok." Daria said flatly and was then quiet for a little bit, and then added, "I'm not going to do anything, I just want to have a sense of my bearings."

"I could understand that," Mack replied nicely, "Waking up in a strange hospital, even a good one like Cedars of Lawndale wouldn't be pleasant."

Daria managed a small laugh at that, "You don't have to tell me twice."

Mack enjoyed a chuckle, "I am sorry for what happened to you though... It's probably my fault."

"No it isn't," Daria replied without missing a beat, "From what little I know of Jodie she was a ticking time bomb waiting for a trigger and I... I guess I was the trigger."

"Yeah but..." Mack began before she cut him off curtly.

"Don't do self-pity, it doesn't suit you."

Mack sighed at that, "Your right, but I thought better of her, even after we broke up but now that I'm thinking about it, I moved on and she didn't."

Daria took another drink of water and then replied, "And that's all on her, not you."

"Yeah," Mack said with a smile that she could hear even if she couldn't see it, "Your right again."

"So what's my Mama Bear lawyer up too?" Daria asked him just as the door opened and Jane came back in, with Jake in tow.

"Daria!" Jake said happily as she rushed over and gave his daughter a hug, but pulled away when she said loudly, "No hugging!"

Jake was used to this, so he just brushed it off and let go while Jane handed out soda's, and Mack could tell that she was waiting for alone time with the three of them so she could tease the hell out of them.

"It took me a while to find your spare pair," Jake explained once he got the greetings out of the way, "They were in one of the boxes we didn't unpack from the move."

Daria saw her father's blurry arms move towards her face and then once the pair were one her face everything came back into focus, "There!" he chirped, "Good as new!"

Jake pulled back away from the bed and the first thing Daria saw was Mack and Jane sitting on either side of the bed looking at her with exhausted faces but gave them as confident a look as she could manage.

Then the door opened and her mother, Helen entered, thankfully her cellphone not glued to her ear.

She sank into the only remaining chair, even more exhausted than her beaten up daughter and said to them, "Well I just finished discussing the matter with Jim and Ian."

"What's the verdict?" Jake asked for everyone, hoping for a magical solution that would fix everything.

"Due to the nature of the assault the police are filing assault charges on Daria's behalf," Helen explained wearily, "And the firm is already confident that we can get a lot out of a civil suit against the high and mighty Landons."

She then sighed, "I really wish this hadn't happened, in fact if I could exchange this easy win for you intact Daria I would but..."

"You're not God Mom," Daria said quietly from her bed, "I don't expect miracles, just do the best that you can."

Helen looked at her daughter with the first smile of the night, "I will Daria, I promise, Mack and Jane explained the situation and that Jodie and her family are going to pay for this crap!"

But unlike the countless other times when she had a legal case in front of her, there was no glee or mirth or the thrill of a task to be done, everything was ashes in her mouth.

Daria wondered for a moment if Mack had told her _everything_ but didn't want to risk asking it.

Instead she asked what had happened to Jodie.

"The last I heard her parents paid her bail." Helen explained quietly, "I've already filed a restraining order that she is not to come within 500 yards of you, so school is out for her for the time being."

Daria nodded at that, "I heard she was going to Grove Hills this weekend anyway."

"I doubt she'll get to do it." Helen replied with a small spark returning to her voice, "By the time we're through with them, they'll be lucky if they can get that little bitch into Polk."

Daria glanced at Mack who informed her quietly that Polk was the local school districts crap school.

Helen then sighed again and said, "Well it's getting late and the arraignments notwithstanding, your friends are going to have to go back home, you need sleep Daria."

She was tempted to ask if they could stay and sleep here, but she doubted that the hospital staff would allow for it, so she nodded and said, "Alright, I'll see you guy's tomorrow, right?"

"You don't have to doubt that." Mack replied with conviction.

"We're your friends now Daria," Jane explained, "We won't ditch you even though your face took a punch."

"...Thank you." Daria breathed softly and smiled.

Jake and Helen never felt happier in their lives as they left with Daria's de facto boyfriend and her friend, leaving Daria to her thoughts.

It took a long time for her to fall asleep.

* * *

The ride back home was absolutely quiet, which suited Jodie just fine as she sat in the back of the car, her clothes torn to shreds and covered in cuts and bruises.

She knew that this was the calm before the storm, when her parents were berate her for being a failure, a complete and utter failure.

As soon as they got home, it didn't take long for them to sit her down on the couch and get down to business.

The words were fractured and broken to her as they yelled, while Rachel watched from the top of the stairwell in her pajamas.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Where were your priorities?!"

"Why the hell did you lose your self-control?!"

"You could have killed that girl, you know that?!"

Then her mother said the thing that broke the camel's back, "Is it any wonder that Mack broke up with you?"

"SHUT UUUUUUUUPPPPPP!" Jodie screamed at them, her voice stretching out the UP syllable until her voice almost cracked.

Andrew and Michele Landon blanched before her as she wheezed and huffed and puffed on the couch, her face going from placid to beet red.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULTS!" Jodie screamed and pointed at the two of them like they had committed a crime, "Always with the 'you have to be the best Jodie', 'you have to be perfect in fucking everything', 'you have to set the example for your race', 'you can't afford failure', 'you can't be a failure', 'you have to get in the right schools or else you'll be a failure'."

"I'VE GIVEN IT ALL I'VE GOT AND LOOK WHAT'S IT'S COST ME!"

"I LOST MY BOYFRIEND, MY RESPECT, MY FRIENDS, FUCKING EVERYTHING AND I'M STILL A FAILURE BECAUSE OF YOU TWO!"

Jodie then seemed to collapse into herself with tears streaming down her face, "I'm a failure... I gave it my all and it wasn't enough..."

She then broke down and sobbed like a small child.

* * *

The boredom of being stuck in the hospital was alleviated by having good company, Mack brought her some books that he thought she'd like, Jane brought a sketch pad full of her latest drawings.

They spared her hospital food with Mack going out for lunch for them, the nearest place was a Cluster Burger, so they ate America's 'best' fast food while watching bad TV and chatting about anything that came to mind.

The books he had brought were an eclectic mix of classic Sci-Fi, horror, mystery, and a book of collected poems by Sappho.

"I didn't see you as being into poetry," Daria told him as she read some of the rich, but incomplete works, of one of the world's first female poets.

"I like to think of myself as a man of all seasons." Mack teased, which caused Daria to laugh, and then wince at the pain from her nose.

"I just wish they could take the cast off," Daria complained again, wanting to see the extent of the damage.

"Don't worry about it Amiga," Jane replied, "They said it's just to make sure the breakage heals properly, hopefully you won't need any plastic surgery."

Daria shuddered at the thought, she had seen enough medical shows to know the price of rhinoplasty.

"The bruising is going to be brutal though," Daria said to herself, not having had the nerve to look in a mirror.

"It will heal," Jane reassured her while channel surfing on their behalf and came across a Sick Sad World rerun.

She stopped surfing and Daria couldn't resist asking Mack when he had become a fan.

"Since forever," Mack explained, "But I didn't let anyone know until..."

"Ah," Daria cut in, "I get it, part of that old image you got to shed."

"It's nice to be yourself," Mack said with a sly grin, "Not having to give a damn what anyone thinks."

He then teased them both, "But you girls wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Jane and Daria both looked at each other and then back at Mack and said in unison, "Nah."


	8. VIII

**Mack the Esteemer (VIII)**

After visiting hours were over, there wasn't much to do but sleep, but even with the pain subsiding it took a while to slip into oblivion.

She was never more thankful in her life to get out of a building, even if she had to wear the stuff that the Fashion Club had dressed her up in for the party, the less thought about the bloodstains on the front of the shirt the better.

With her parents and Quinn, she left the hospital on a Saturday morning, glad she didn't have to go to school like this for a couple days.

In the car, Quinn was being unusually supportive and trying to lighten up her mood.

"And we all pooled some money together and bought you some new clothes and makeup and stuff," she said sweetly, "And not just at Cashmans either, we talked to that friend of yours, Jane and she showed us some _alternative_ clothing stores on this rather grungy looking street, so you have a mix of things depending on what you want to wear."

"Thanks Quinn." Daria answered with some sincerity.

It was a nice change of pace for her sister to act... sisterly.

In her own way of course.

As they wove through Lawndale, Daria turned to her sister and said, "I heard that you tried to defend me from Jodie..."

"Yeah I did," Quinn said more quietly, "Sandi joined in too, I never would have imagined her being a scrapper like that! Boy was she teed off about Jodie ruining everyone's good time, I mean even you were happy Daria, I saw you smile."

"I was happy." Daria answered honestly, "Even talking to Upchuck didn't ruin the mood."

Quinn laughed at that, "Yeah, I mean he's a total slimeball but he was the one that explained everything to the cops and kept a whole bunch of people from spending the night in jail."

"...I'm impressed." Daria answered with more honesty.

"I know," Quinn replied, "I had a thought about that... I mean if he was that way more often then maybe he wouldn't have such a hard time."

Daria gave her sister a rare nod of approval, "...That actually sounds accurate, I think you had some insight on someone."

"Really?!" Quinn squealed in surprise.

"I'm rubbing off on you Quinn," Daria teased and then added, "In a good way."

Quinn would have answered that but the Morgendorffer clan then pulled up onto their street and soon enough they were home.

* * *

As soon as they were there, Daria stated that she was going to have a hot shower then change and come back down for non-hospital food.

For at least a little bit she wanted an escape from it all.

The hot water on her skin felt amazing, even if it did require some contortions to avoid having it hit her face, which was scrubbed with a washcloth.

She stayed in there for far longer than needed for washing, but even simple pleasures had to end, so she got out of the shower, toweled off, and slipped on a bathrobe and went down the hall to her room.

When she closed the door and turned on the light she found quite a few bags in her room, ranging from stores like, Junior 5, Cashmans, Veronica's Closet, and others from places she hadn't heard of like the Funky Doddle, Da Threadz, and on her bed itself were three fancy looking dress bags that when unzipped revealed three different beautiful formal wear dresses.

Then she noticed the note on top of the bad that contained a white ballroom number.

_Daria,_

_Quinn says that you don't like to shop a lot, but we wanted to give you something to make you feel better, we made it diverse so you could pick and mix, though feel free to ask us for advice on clothes or relationship stuff if you need it._

_On a personal note I haven't seen Mack this happy in, like, forever and... If you are what makes him glad then I'm all for it... and there's some stuff from Veronica's that should really make him happy if you can work up the nerve to use it._

_Hugs, Sandi Griffin_

Even though she had used an excess of smiley faces and hearts, and her hand writing was a bit messy, Daria whispered to the paper, "Thanks."

She had been saying that a lot lately.

Though now she needed to sort through everything and find out what she had, first she ignored the stuff from the mall and focused on what she guessed were the 'alternative' stores and had to admit to liking what she saw.

Then she glanced through the latest teen fashions and decided that a few things were do-able, under the right contexts, but others weren't really her at all.

Her gaze fell on the bag from the lingerie store and she made sure that the door was closed and locked.

She pulled out the first filmy night thing and her eyes popped.

"Whoa!" she breathed before shoving it right back in the bag, her face crimson red at the implications of that... that...

"Eep!"

* * *

After she had sorted through everything, and hid the Veronica's Closet bag in the _back_ of _her_ closet, she slipped into a Jim Morrison t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of blue running shoes she had found next to the Cashman's bag.

Considering her busted nose she didn't want to risk tripping on her boots and breaking it again so soon, it freaking hurt the first time.

She noticed a small makeup kit on her nightstand and said to herself, "I guess Quinn forgot that I do have some makeup, even though I don't really use it."

She sighed at her reflection, for a moment worried that this would be seen as a concession to vanity.

"Look," she told herself, "Quinn seems to be trying to mend fences... Maybe I should meet her halfway."

With a weary sigh, she trudged out of her room and headed downstairs, and heard her mother in the master bedroom on her phone, Daria moved a bit more quickly, not wanting to break the spell of peace.

Once down she found her father and sister in the kitchen reading the newspaper and the latest issue of waif respectively.

They both looked up and gave her smiles, her father then said, "Hey Kiddo, want some... brunch?"

Daria smirked at that, "Sounds good, just keep it simple."

"Ok Kiddo," her father replied sweetly and headed to the fridge and pulled out some bacon and eggs, and Daria hoped that he didn't go overboard with the spices.

"Wow Daria you look nice." Quinn said to her sister nicely, even while wishing that she had at least tried to put on some makeup to go with her new look.

Daria thanked her for it and thought to herself that she had been saying that a lot lately.

Her sister then said, "I heard Mom and Dad talking about... Lots of stuff but one of those things is... well..."

"Well what?" Daria asked even while dreading the answer.

Quinn then whispered to her, "They tried to get you new glasses to replace the broken ones but... No one sells your style anymore."

Daria sighed, "I was afraid of that."

"So they bought you a new pair of round ones," Quinn replied gently, "They're more oval than round and much smaller and I think they look great but... I know how attached you were to your old ones."

"...Yeah I was attached." Daria said sadly even while feeling the spare pair on her face, similar to her old ones but a bit sharper on her nose.

Quinn had always wanted her older sister to get contacts, or at least a more fashionable pair of glasses, and to be more fashionable in general but now that it was sort of happening...

"I kinda wish it wasn't happening," Quinn realized, "Well not like this at any rate."

It was a disquieting thought.

Then as their father struggled to fry up bacon, their mother could be heard coming down the stairs wrapping up a conversation with her boss.

"Thank you Ian." she said as she entered the kitchen with her phone glued to her ear, "Goodbye for now."

She then hung it up and noticed that Daria was downstairs and gave her a smile even while her heart broke a bit at the sight of the damage done to her face.

But she was forced to suppress it and said, "I know that this might not be the right moment but... You need to know the basics."

"Alright," Daria replied quietly while her Dad brought over the bacon and Quinn munched on a carrot stick, "What's the skinny?"

* * *

A little later after Helen left for work to do battle and Quinn went to school, her Dad had offered to take the day off and stay with her but she had declined.

"It's ok, no really," Daria had said while waving him off, "I'll be fine."

"Ok Kiddo." Jake had replied with a comforting smile.

After he had left, she thought over what her mother had told her, that the Lawndale School District was working out the final details of a settlement for her and Mack due to Ms. Li's blackmail attempt, and that the Firm was going to go full bore on the Landon's for the assault in a civil suit.

"Though I have little doubt that the Landons will seek a settlement with us," Helen had explained, "Anything else will result in a lengthy court battle, drawing even more attention to the behavior of their daughter. Which from what the Mackenzies have told me is something that those social-climbers will be desperate to mitigate wherever possible."

In terms of the charges filled by the DA's office, Helen thought that due to Jodie's clean record that she might get away with probation and community service, "Though it's up in the air if the judge will agree to seal her records on her eighteenth birthday or not." Helen had finished with a shrug.

Daria couldn't decide how she felt about that, even after updating her diary and double-checked the homework that Mack and Jane had done with her in the hospital, which Quinn had brought to them.

She tried to do some writing but nothing would come, so she watched some old movies and bad TV for most of the day, until around 3 when she heard the doorbell ring.

Once she opened it she found Mack and Jane on her doorstep, "Hey guys." Daria said quietly before letting them in.

"I see Quinn's perilous journey with me into the depths of Dega Street were fruitful." Jane quipped.

"You'll have to take me there sometime then." Daria replied and her friend laughed.

"We brought you the homework for today," Mack said as he followed Jane in, "You wouldn't believe how many people were peppering us with questions about the fight."

"It wasn't a fight," Daria said as she sat back down on the couch, "I got my ass handed to me in one punch."

"Daria," Mack said with a smirk, "You know how the rumor mill works, it's already become an epic battle with you and Jodie in skimpy outfits wielding fire swords."

They all laughed at that and after a few more minutes of banter, Jane said that she had to go to the bathroom and left them in the living room alone.

For a few minutes, Daria just enjoyed talking to Mack while watching TV, waiting for a new episode of Sick, Sad World to start.

Then she noticed that they had gotten sufficiently close enough together on the couch that there was maybe a couple centimeters distance between them at best.

Mack seemed a bit nervous, but he took a deep breath and then said with just a touch of nerves, "Daria I... I've been thinking."

"About?" She asked while trying to play it cool and failing miserably.

"I... I like you, a lot."

"Like as a friend?" she asked and then realized that was the dumbest question she could have asked.

"...More than a friend." Mack answered, worried about how she would react but wanting the truth rather than an act or a lie.

"I... I don't have much... _any_ experience with this sort of thing." she answered in turn after a moment's pregnant pause, "But I... I think I like you too."

Mack gave her a handsome smile that made her heart nearly skip a beat and before either of them fully realized it, they were kissing full throttle.

When did she wrap her hands around the back of his neck? Or for that matter when did he put his arms around the small of her back to bring her closer to him?

But that was how Jane Lane found them when she came back downstairs from the bathroom, and she relished shocking them by her arrival, and then teased them relentlessly until Quinn entered the house.

* * *

In the quiet of her private bathroom, Jodie sat in her tub, enjoying the first real peace she had felt in what seemed like an eternity.

The water was almost scalding hot, just the way she liked it, the warmth making her feel almost alive.

Her parents had been arguing on and off since her breakdown about what to do, sending her to a rest home, maybe a private school for 'troubled youth', a therapist, and all of it was an attempt to wash their hands of their role in all this.

"It's all a big joke," Jodie thought to herself bleakly, "And I'm the damn punch line."

She turned her head to look at what rested on the edge of the bathtub, a pretty pink razor blade, she had shaved her legs earlier but had been looking at the sharp little haircutter intermittently since then.

A strange thought entered her mind, "Maybe there's a way to make them see..."

It required some more thought.


	9. IX

**Mack the Esteemer (IX)**

In her room, Daria lounged on her bed with her phone up to her ear, chatting with Mack.

"Well after you and Jane left, Quinn's update jived with yours more or less." Daria said to him, "Except hers was from the perspective of the popular crowd, apparently Jodie wasn't quite as beloved as everyone seems to have believed."

"Really?" Mack replied with confusion, "Is this a racial thing?"

"To be honest I'm not a hundred percent sure," Daria conceded, "But what Quinn said was more along the lines of Jodie being somewhat condescending and elitist… Which I'll admit has been said about me before."

Mack laughed, "Reminds me of when I didn't sign up for football, it turned out a lot of kids thought I had been stuck up. Especially most of the other African-Americans in our grade, but I think I managed to overcome that."

He could feel Daria nodding at that, "It is a bit sad though that she doesn't have a single friend but she brought this on herself."

"Yup," Mack replied and then changed the subject with, "But on the lighter side of the news, it's the weekend! So any plans?"

Daria snickered, "Well normally I try to avoid social interaction as much as possible but I think I'll tweak that since I have a friend and a… Boyfriend."

Mack noticed her hesitation on the word 'boyfriend' but reminded himself that this was her first relationship.

"She's still getting used to it." He told himself.

Out loud he replied, "Yes you do and as part of being the dutiful boyfriend and all, I was thinking we should go on a date-type activity. So have you heard of Governor's Park?"

When Daria told him no, Mack explained, "It's easily one of the best restaurants in the area, so if you get bored with me you'll be getting a good free meal out of it."

Daria snickered at the joke, "You are many things Mack but 'boring' isn't one of them."

"I appreciate that." Mack replied, "So… Yes?"

"Yes." Daria answered, "But what about during Saturday, day?"

"We could just hang out with each other and Jane where appropriate, show you my pad and Jane's… Say I don't think you met her brother Trent yet. Don't worry Daria, there's plenty to do that only requires a minimum of effort."

"Now that's the way to my heart." She teased just before she heard a knock at the door, "Sorry someone wants to talk to me in the real world."

Mack laughed again, "Just be sure to take the red pill."

Daria told him goodbye before hanging up and answered her bedroom door and found Quinn waiting for her.

"Daria," she said a bit less perky than normal, "Can we talk?"

"Sure." Daria replied and let her in, and was forced to ignore Quinn saying, "You haven't redecorated yet?"

"What do you want?" Daria asked of her little sister while sitting down at her desk chair.

Quinn sat down on the bed, but kept away from the padded walls, as if afraid she'd catch something if she touched them.

"Daria I… I wanted to apologize to you for the whole, cousin thing." Quinn said and took pleasure in shocking the hell out of her.

"Whoa!" Daria intoned, "Didn't see this one coming, what gives for the change of heart?"

"Well it's like what Mack said and what Sandi told me later," Quinn answered, "I mean granted you're not like super popular like me and you do embarrass the hell out of me a lot."

"But…" Daria intoned.

"But it wasn't very mature of me to… You know… Deny you." Quinn said more flatly than before, "I mean Sandi says that her little brothers go out of their way to make her miserable but at the end of the day they are still her brothers."

Quinn then finished with, "And like, at the end of the day we are sisters and even though we are on two different tracks and stuff. It shouldn't mean that we can't get along… Right?"

Daria took all of this in and replied, "…Yeah you are right, granted there is going to be friction, but, and I hate to say something so sappy and cliché, we are blood and that is about as thick as you can get."

"Blood?!" Quinn exclaimed in horror, latching onto the one word she did understand, "Ewww! Daria I said we're sisters, not those people who exchange blood through cuts and stuff."

Daria smirked and thought, "Now this is the Quinn I've known all these years."

But verbally she said, "Let me rephrase that, yeah we are sisters."

Then she had to remind Quinn about the 'No Hugging' rule when she seemed to want to get up and do just that.

But before Quinn could leave, Daria was forced to ask for her opinion on something, "Mack is taking me out to Governor's Park tomorrow night, do you know anything about it?"

It took Quinn a moment to process that, "…You… You're going out on a date?! That's great!"

She then squealed with excitement and actually jumped up and down, and then gave Daria a hug, and ignored her protests.

"This is awesome Daria!" Quinn squealed with a big grin, "I mean Governor's Park isn't Chez Pierre but it's certainly on par with it, though you won't be able to flaunt your new date as much or anything."

Daria then wondered if Mack was taking her to Governor's Park out of a desire for more privacy but was forced to put that on the back burner.

"But we'll be able to use one of your new dresses for it since Governor's Park is very swanky…" Quinn said more airly and went to Daria's closet and spotted the dress bags, "That white ballroom gown will do… I'll loan you a necklace to go with it… Pity you didn't get your ears pierced because a couple chandelier earrings would be perfect for this…"

Daria found herself being sucked into the maelstrom of fashion… In her own room.

"Quinn… Quinn!" She yelled to get her sister's attention, "There was something else I wanted to ask… Do you have more of that cherry lip gloss?"

Quinn wondered what that question was about since lip gloss wouldn't go with the dress at all… Then she saw her sister start to turn red and it… clicked!

"…Oh yes Daria… I do." Quinn replied with a smirk.

* * *

Over a dinner of steak and mashed potatoes and gravy, Mack chatted with his parents about this and that.

Then he chose to give them the news.

"Mom, Dad." He said calmly, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm taking Daria out on a date tomorrow night."

"So you guys are going out now?" his father asked and when his son nodded replied, "Great, it's nice to see you having fun again."

Linda smiled and gave her son her support but asked, "Is she feeling better after the… incident?"

Mack blinked and suppressed a grimace at the reminder, glad that Upchuck had kept him from spending a night in the clink for simply being nearby.

"Other than a broken nose Daria is doing as about as well as can be expected." Mack explained.

"Well that's good." George Mackenzie replied while helping himself to seconds of his wife's cooking.

Linda for her part poured herself a new glass of sweet tea and then said, "Would it be an imposition for me to ask you to bring her along when we go to church on Sunday?"

Mack shrugged, "I dunno, I'll ask her though."

While his mother thanked him for it, Mack thought on the fact that when his parent's fledgling business had started booming, their previous weekly attendance at the local African Methodist Church of Lawndale had shrunk down considerably.

"Though Mom does make it a point to go whenever she can and get us to go at least once a month." Mack thought to himself.

He was something of a skeptic towards religion and the idea of God, but didn't mind the occasional church appearance.

"Minister Hughes is a nice enough person," Mack thought to himself, "and he always keeps things upbeat."

As he ate dinner with his folks, he did worry about how some of the other members of the congregation would react to him bringing a white girl to an almost exclusively black church.

"I'll pre-warn her about that first," Mack told himself, "Though it'll just be a small group of small minded idiots that'll be like that."

He just hoped they could hold their peace if Daria did come with him.

But in any case, he was going to have a fun Saturday with her, there was no doubt about that.

* * *

Around that time, Jodie Landon was unconscious in a bed at Cedars of Lawndale after an apparent suicide attempt, from her mother's testimony Jodie had come down the stairs from her bathroom nude and bleeding from her wrists, saying over and over that she wanted to die now.

While one of the RN's kept watch over the slumbering figure, a CPS agent was speaking to Jodie's parents down the hall but the argument could be faintly heard even in Jodie's room.

"What pathetic people." The nurse muttered to herself having got the gist of it a while ago, "They'd rather pass the buck than take any responsibility for their own flesh and blood."

She looked at the beautiful girl, her expression eerily peaceful and whispered to her, "You deserve better dear."

Truer words were never spoken.


	10. X

**Mack the Esteemer (X)**

Saturday was in full swing, and Daria had enjoyed surprising Mack and Jane with her wardrobe choice of a simple green shirt, black bell-bottom pants, her usual boots, an old jean jacket she used to wear in Highland, and her new smaller oval glasses, and of course her nose cast.

Now after Jane had given her a brief tour of 'Casa Lane' and all three of them were now in her room, the TV was showing Hackers on a low volume while Jane finished showing off her latest paintings and a strange pair of statues that she claimed had taken hours to build.

"They're going to be the subject of a painting." Jane explained while waving around a glue gun that resembled a laser beam.

"Put down the weapon Jane," Mack teased, "Nice and slow, the paint fumes are getting to you."

"Scoff all you want!" Jane mocked while adding a couple buttons to the strange mess of objects, "But these babies will make for a fascinating piece."

"Scoff." Daria intoned with a slight grin just before a very loud boom shook the room and caused the larger of the two statues to wobble and then fall apart on top of the other one.

Daria then added, "There but for the grace of noise goes your new masterpiece."

Jane growled, "Dammit Trent!" before storming out of the room.

"Who's Trent?" Daria asked of Mack who explained as they followed her as more noise emerged from what turned out to be the Lane's basement.

"Trent is Jane's older brother," Mack yelled over the guitars, "I'm guessing he and his buddy Jesse are having a jam session for their band."

Before Daria could ask, "What band?" they reached the open door that lead down to the lowest level of the house, which apparently doubled as a potter's crafting room and display area.

A nice drawling voice could be heard singing before Jane yelled, "YO TRENT! MIND TURNING IT DOWN A BIT?!"

The guitar playing stopped just as Daria reached the bottom of the stairs and she saw a lanky twenty something with tribal band tats on his arms, piercings, wild black hair and a soul patch beard.

Next to him was a muscular guy with long flowing brown locks wearing a leather vest with no shirt, black pants, and combat boots.

The lanky guy said, "Are you kidding, oh hey Mack..." He then peered at Daria for a moment and then said, "Do I know you?"

Jane laughed, "Trent this is my friend Daria, Daria this is my brother Trent, and the lug next to him is Jesse."

"Hey." Daria replied casually.

After some more introductions, Trent asked what they thought of the song.

"Well it has a beat and you can dance to it." Daria said politely, then Mack made her laugh by whispering, "If you have no shame."

"You guys should come to our Mystik Spiral gig tonight." Jesse said to them while putting his guitar down.

"Mystik Spiral? Sounds like a Doors cover band." Daria thought aloud before she could stop herself.

Trent went, "Hmm... I think you're right, maybe we should spell Mystik with two Y's."

Mack grinned and replied, "You should sleep on it."

Trent started to laugh but wound up coughing, "Sounds like a plan, Mack."

"Speaking of plans," Jane butted in, "We were going to get some pizza for lunch, you guys interested?"

"Yeah." Jesse spoke up with a slight smile at the thought of food.

Trent's head bobbed, "What Jesse said."

Daria smirked at the two of them and whispered to Mack, "If I didn't know any better I'd swear that they were Jane's younger idiot brothers."

Mack laughed as they left the basement, "That's what I thought at first, but Trent's sacrificed a lot for Jane so try not to judge him."

There was a moment's pause and Mack rethought that, "Ok, don't judge him _too_ harshly."

Daria laughed and replied, "Fair enough."

As they headed to the front door to leave Daria thought about Trent and Jesse, "They are both good looking I'll admit but neither of them holds a candle to Mack."

* * *

Mack glanced at the doors of Pizza Prince as Trent and Jesse walked in with two other guys that Daria didn't recognize and was informed that the one with blond hair was Nick and the bald guy was Max.

Trent led them to the booth where Mack and Daria were at with Jane and joined them, one of the servers took one look at their group and rushed to the back saying loudly, "Mystik Spiral plus three!"

Daria raised an eyebrow at that, Jane smirked and explained.

"Max's uncle owns the joint," Jane said as the server rushed back with a tray full of drinks, "So combine their big appetites with a tab and..."

"Ah I see." Daria stated as the serve handed out sodas and then took their pizza orders, to which Trent then added at the end, "And we'll want to take some home with us too."

The server nodded firmly and jotted something down on his pad before rushing back to the kitchen yelling, "Tony it's a Code 3!"

Mack explained before she could ask what that meant, "There's a code system for how much food the band wants, it goes all the way up to five."

"And how many Code 5's have there been?" Daria asked with a raised eyebrow and everyone gulped and looked stricken, even Jane.

"One." Nick said flatly with a shudder.

"God that night's a blur," Max added while rubbing his forehead with sympathy pain, "And the morning after too."

"Okay," Daria said quietly, "That explains a lot."

Mack smiled and when everyone else was distracted talking about other stuff, he asked Daria about going to church with him and his parents the next day.

"Wow," Daria replied, "A couple days into our relationship and I'm already being recruited."

Mack laughed, "No nothing like that, my parents go about once a month and Minister Hughes usually keeps his sermons upbeat, but it is a black majority congregation."

Daria nodded, "Ah, so careful with sarcastic commentary and all that... Gotcha."

"So you'll come with?" Mack asked and after a moment Daria nodded yes.

"Just forewarning," she added with a raised finger, "I'm an agnostic and if you're going to try and convert me..."

"I'm not," Mack replied firmly, "and besides I'm something of a skeptic myself but it makes my parents happy to see me with them and like I said, it's usually upbeat."

"But the Landons are also members," he added and then rushed with, "But after what's happened I doubt they'll come, or if they do I highly doubt Jodie will be with them."

Mack made a face and sneered, "Since she's damaged their precious 'image' of being picturesque and an 'example' to their people."

He put the words image and example in air-quotes.

Daria nodded in acknowledgement just as the food arrived and everyone began to dig in.

While sucking down sodas and pizza without shame, Daria heard Trent mention, "We're going to head to Alternapalooza in a couple weeks."

"We're taking the Tank!" Max cheered and almost knocked over his pop, "It's indestructible!"

Mack and Jane both suppressed snickers, and Daria wondered about the so-called indestructible qualities of Max's 'Tank'.

Mack said carefully, "With the money me and Daria are getting from the school district, we'll probably have a couple new cars by then, if you guys give us gas money we'll drive you up."

"Cool." Trent drawled before Max could object, "We're there!"

Daria whispered to Mack, "I'm still learning to drive."

He whispered back, "I figured, but we'll have one of the guys do the driving for you instead."

Trent chose that moment to pass out and fell into his food and the look on Daria's face caused Mack to add, "We'll have narcoleptic boy in the back."

* * *

As they exited Pizza Prince, Daria commented about the number of people who had come up to them mid-way through the meal to ask how she was doing.

"I didn't think getting punched in the nose could make you popular." she snarked to Jane as they left, Trent and Jesse carrying a large stack of leftover pizza in boxes.

Jane shrugged, "I think it was a combo of your 'Sexy Daria' thing _and_ getting decked."

Daria snickered, "The words Sexy and Daria do not belong together."

Mack thought to himself, "Oh yes they do."

* * *

After getting back to Casa Lane, Mack then escorted Daria to his father's borrowed car and showed her around town a bit.

He pointed out some of the other teen hangout spots, like Trendee's ("That's the overpriced place the popular kids go in order to look cool." Mack commented), the Mall he bypassed since neither of them needed clothes or food, High Hills Park, which perked Daria's interest due to the rumors of secret Satanic worship at night, then Dega Street, which truly was interesting.

Then he showed her the storefront for the family business Mackenzie Hardware.

The store was a grey and white brick combo, the sign promoting it was large and in red lights, the parking lot was busy since it was Saturday afternoon but Mack found a spot.

The inside was filled with shoppers and Daria noted that the store itself was of a decent size but not over the top huge, and even with the crowd was kept as clean and tidy as possible.

The employees recognized Mack on sight and greeted him warmly, and when informed that she was his current girlfriend also got the nod of approval.

"You wanna talk to the boss?" an employee with the nametag of 'Gladys' asked, but Mack shook his head.

"Just showing my girl around." Mack explained before moving on.

She took in the wide selection available in the various aisles while Mack discussed how his father built it up.

"He had always dreamed of running a shop like this," Mack explained as they slipped into the break room, "But until Mom hit the lottery it was just that, a dream."

Mack beamed as he talked, "Even before we got all our ducks in a row, he was saying how we were going to put the money to good use, a college fund for me and a family business so we'd never have to be where we were."

"It wasn't a bad life," he added with a wistful sigh, "It was just a working class sort of deal, scrapping by with Dad working on a construction crew and Mom as a secretary. I guess you could say it hasn't changed but that we've just moved on up."

Daria laughed with him on that one, "So how much of a struggle was it to get this place going?"

Mack replied, "Not as much as you would think, since the other place, Deuce Hardware had all kinds of issues with keeping up with demand and the service sucked. I'm proud to say that within a year of opening that Dad put them out of business."

Then a big voice interrupted them, "And I am too son!"

"Hey Dad," Mack greeted his father as the large man entered the break room.

"Hello Mister Mackenzie." Daria answered nicely as George took a seat with them at the table.

"Please Daria you can call me George." Mack's father said with a big smile, and Daria nodded at that and corrected herself, "Hello George."

When Mack confirmed that he had shown Daria the store and was telling her how he built it, George smiled with satisfaction, "They say pride is a sin, but I don't feel sinful when I say that I've made something here to be proud of."

"You should be proud." Daria replied honestly, "It's takes a lot of guts to go after a dream like this, especially since the rate of attrition for small businesses is brutal."

"Now that's the truth," George stated with a nod, "Heh I remember old Landon saying that I should just invest all the money in stocks, that he didn't want to see me be destroyed by the business world."

Mack added with a worried glance at Daria, "Yeah, he always had to pretend he was doing people a favor by putting them down."

George laughed at that, "The truth strikes again! Well I showed that stuck up social climber, business is booming, we've got a nice house, and my boy's future is bright and secure. What more could I ask for?"

Daria gave a full blown smile at that but said nothing, but she did take Mack's hand into her's underneath the table just held it for a while.

She talked to Mack's father for a little bit after that, and learned that he had made friends and connections with the other business leaders and with the Crewe Neck set.

George told them the latest from that little 'old boy's world', "Heh at the last Business Leader's Luncheon I remember telling Linda Griffin how to improve her gutters and she was so thankful that she cut me a deal on TV advertising at the local news channel."

He laughed again and took a chance and told them about witnessing the Sloanes in action, "Angier and Kay are really nice people, and they're always doing some project or another at their home and I seem to have become their go-to guy for supplies and info on good construction teams to do it."

Mack smiled at that while thinking to himself, "Tom and Elsie are cool too, but I think I'll keep Daria away from them, especially Tom until our relationship is more solid."

It's not that he didn't like or trust Tom, he just suspected that Tom might be a kind of guy that could sweep a girl like Daria off her feet.

"And that's not happening on my watch." Mack thought to himself firmly as his father wrapped up his story telling session.

"Well I think I'll stop boring you with my gossip," George said while getting up and gave his son a hug and a pat on the back before leaving, "You kids have fun and..."

Mack suspected what his father was going to ask, "Yeah Dad, Daria's coming with us tomorrow."

"Great!" George replied happily, "I'll see you two later, bye!"

Two friendly goodbyes echoed as George Mackenzie left to get back to work, and after a minute Mack and Daria departed the break room and then left the store.

As they walked out the front door, Daria pushed back her nerves and followed a wild impulse and had Mack stop in mid-step and kissed him, ignoring anyone passing by.

Mack smiled joyfully once she pulled back and said, "Thanks but what'd I do right?"

Daria beamed, "Nothing... I just felt like doing that."

As they headed to his borrowed car, Mack hopefully asked, "Any chance that you still feel like doing that?"

Daria smirked and replied as they reached the car, "Maybe..."

* * *

After getting back home she was ambushed by Quinn who wanted to get her ready for her date at Governor's Park, hours in advance.

It took a while to extract herself from her sister's tentacles, but by pointing out that it was still daylight and that Cashman's _did_ have that sale going on, Daria managed to escape and lock herself in the safety of her room.

She opened her closet and extracted the dress bags and checked each of them and found what she hoped would be a suitable dress for Sunday.

It was a long-sleeved black and white number that went just past the knees, it did show off some cleavage and was tight in places she didn't want to think about, but it was still elegant.

"Will I have to wear a hat?" Daria thought out loud, "I know some churches require it, other's don't..."

She made a note to herself to ask while putting the dress back in the bag and opened up the one containing the white ballroom gown that she would be wearing in a few hours.

She stared at it for a long time, the rich soft silk and satin fabric felt like water flowing through her hands, if the black & white dress seemed a bit risqué, it had nothing on this sleeveless, backless number.

"This is going to take some getting used to." she said to herself while looking at it like a coiled viper that was ready to strike at any moment.

And in a few hours that would be technically true.


	11. XI

**Mack the Esteemer (XI)**

As soon as the door to the Morgendorffer residence opened, Mack breathed, "Daria... You're beautiful."

The figure wearing a gorgeous silk white ballroom gown, with fancy long white gloves to compensate for the lack of sleeves, smiled bashfully from behind her new oval glasses and her flawless makeup.

"Thanks." She stammered while walking gingerly in a pair of high heels hidden behind the floor length material.

In his smart suit, Mack put a gentlemen's arm around Daria to steady her and found that part of the dress was backless as well and his blood boiled at the feeling her smooth skin on his own.

Jake Morgendorffer came up to them from behind, but it wasn't surprising at all, but what surprised Mack was that he wasn't trying the old 'protective father' routine but instead just reminded Daria of the 11:30 curfew and told them both to have fun.

Once they were in Mack's borrowed car, Daria caught her reflection in the side mirror, her hair was done up and held by a beautiful comb borrowed from Quinn, along with her chandelier earrings, but the choker necklace had come from her mother.

As much as it pained her to mention it, she didn't want there to be an elephant in the room that night, so she sighed and said, "Did you hear about Jodie?"  
Mack sighed, "Yeah."

Daria managed a small joke of, "Figures that we would be the last to know."

"Yup," Mack replied flatly, "But it's kind of out of our hands."

Daria nodded while he drove through Lawndale, "Yes it is."

She said it even more flatly than he had spoken a moment before, and with that the topic was closed.

For the moment.

* * *

Once they pulled up in front of the beautiful, ivy choked building, Daria smiled as a valet opened the door for her and stepped out and thanked God that she didn't trip nor suffer a heel break.

Mack swept to her side and tossed his keys to the valet with a practiced air after slipping him a healthy tip, and quietly thanked his Dad for the fat chunk of cash for the date.

"It'll be great once we get the settlement from the school," Mack commented as they swept into the restaurant and waited in line to get their table, "We can come here in a swanky car."

"Mine or yours?" Daria teased as the line moved a bit faster than she had expected.

"Either one is fine," Mack replied and when they reached the host, they were clearly enjoying each other's company.

After confirming the reservation, the host moved quickly to seat them and gave them their menus and with a wink at Mack the wine list and departed as

swiftly as he had arrived.

To forestall her obvious fears, Mack grinned, "Relax Daria, I've got more than enough friends here for us to indulge, as long as we don't overdo it."

Daria gave Mack a small smile at that, and even while thinking about how she normally didn't drink, found herself asking him what was the sweetest vintage available.

When Mack told her what it was and after checking the price she began to protest but he waved it off.

"Don't worry about it Daria," he said kindly, "At this point it's chicken feed."

Her fears assuaged, she then looked at the menu and after some thought selected a chicken ceasar salad, while Mack ordered a huge steak and a baked potato with all the trimmings.

The server took their order in short order, giving them the chance to talk.

Mack asked Daria about her extended family and Daria seemed a bit dismissive about the topic.

"Well on my Dad's side there's Grandma Ruth and his sister, Aunt Judith," Daria explained, "His father, Mad Dog died before I was born, we don't see Grandma Ruth much and I haven't even met Aunt Judith."

Mack was tempted to ask why but chose not to pry, and Daria didn't elaborate on that subject.

Instead she then said, "On my mother's side is her mother, Grandma Joan Barksdale," she put a faux posh accent into the name, which jogged Mack's memory from half-remembered things he had heard during his brief journeys with his parents into fancy diners and parties with the well-to-do set in the area.

"As in, the Barksdales?" He asked and when Daria nodded he whistled, "Impressive."

"Not really," Daria replied flatly, "She showers all her favors on her favorite daughter, Rita, which my mother's hates, and then her other sister, Amy hasn't been in touch in years."

"Ouch." Mack winced in sympathy pain.

"Pretty much," Daria replied, "What about your family?"

Mack shrugged, "Not much to tell, I have a couple uncles on my Dad's side and a few cousins that I get to see every now and then, my Mom had a sister but she died young and her parents died a few years ago."

"Ah," Daria said and would have asked him something else if their drinks hadn't arrived, she took a hesitant sip of her wine and found it to be very good, it almost masked the taste of the alcohol completely.

They enjoyed their imported spirits and talked about looking at cars together after school at some point in the next week, Mack had a couple different ones in mind for himself but Daria herself was drawing a blank.

"I don't know much about the subject," she admitted as their food arrived, "It's not really my thing."

"That's alright," Mack replied smoothly while noting that his steak was juicy enough that it didn't need any A1 sauce, "I'll help."

Daria smiled at that just before they both began to dig into their food.

While indulging in the best meal she had consumed in ages, Daria asked, "I heard Tori mention that even when you fell off the popularity charts to 'medium-popular, whatever that means, that you and Kevin were still friends, how did that work?"

Mack laughed, "Oh, that's because Kevin's dad is one of our best customers. Doug Thompson runs a big contracting and construction company in town, a good chunk of the new buildings in Lawndale County have his stamp on them, and he was one of our earliest major buyers for any emergency supplies he needed."

"Now?" Mack said rhetorically, "He pretty much buys everything from us, and he's been loyal enough that Dad gives him a special discount, so Kevin had good reason to stay nice to me."

He then sighed, "Even if he never could stop calling me, 'Mack Daddy'."

Daria actually giggled at that, "Think he'll ever figure out that you hate that nickname?"

There was a pause before Mack admitted, "Nope, but it does give me an excuse to punch him in the arm though, that's a plus."

Daria gave a hearty chuckle, "You need an excuse?"

There was another pause before they both said in unison, "No!"

* * *

As they finished their meal, Daria felt brave enough to ask Mack, "I know you say you hate football, but you still do plays for Jamie and I heard you and Kevin chatting about the recent Cowboy's game, so... What gives?"

Mack smiled a little at that, "Maybe I should be more specific, I don't hate football itself, but it's easier to say that to people than to explain my real reasons for it."

"Which are?" Daria asked nicely but in a tone that would brook no evasions.

Mack nodded in acknowledgement and thought that the lawyer gene was strong in Helen Morgendorffer's daughter, "I hated playing it when I didn't have a real choice, so when I had the choice I chose not to play, plus with Li at the helm at Lawndale there's no way I'm willing to hit the gridiron."

"But if let's say Ms. Li screws up and is removed from the equation then you might consider it?" Daria asked.

Mack nodded, "I'd do more than that, I'd probably ask Gisbon to join the instant Ms. Li was out the door, I did have moments of joy when I was playing in Junior High and if I could just do it for fun without any pressure to land a scholarship or for the so called, 'glooorrrieeee of laaaaawndaaaleee hiiiighhhh' then... yeah I would."

Daria teased, "That was the scariest impression of Li I've heard to date."

Mack laughed, "Sorry, won't happen again."

More seriously Daria said, "As for getting out there on the field, if that's what you want to do then I can't really judge. I mean you are more than just a stereotypical meathead, but I wouldn't worry about never not doing it again."

Mack began to ask why before it clicked and he said, "Nevermind, Li's so screwed up that she's bound to get herself fired soon."

Daria smiled darkly at that truth, "Yes, it's just a matter of time, but if you want to speed it up I suggest hinting to Gibson that you'd join the team if Li wasn't in charge anymore."

She then added, "I'm sure there are enough skelleton's in her closet that the football coach could use to get rid of her for you."

Mack smiled and replied, "I'll think about it, though it might be more fun to watch Li destroy herself... There's no real rush."

Daria then rose what was left of her wine up for a toast and said, "No there is not."

Then they clanged glasses together and drank what was left to that.

* * *

Ever practical Daria convinced Mack to park his car in his parent's driveway and walked the short distance to her house rather than make him do a pointless few foot trip back to his place by car.

To spare herself a possible trip, she was carrying her heels in her hands, hoping that the flats she had for tomorrow wouldn't be at the same level of foot torture as those cursed white stilettos.

"I had a great time tonight Mack," Daria said softly as they moved down the sidewalk, hand in hand.

"I did too Daria," Mack replied and kissed her cheek gently and relished her blush, and was glad that her makeup didn't smudge, unknowingly owing Quinn quite a bit for her selection of cosmetics.

They arrived at the walkway to Daria's home with ten minutes to spare and spent a few moments enjoying the quiet of the dead of night.

"Daria," Mack said with some hesitation, "If you don't want to go with us tomorrow, especially due to the latest Landon drama, I... I'll understand."

"No Mack," she replied firmly, "Delaying it will only make it worse in the long haul, so let's just get it all out there in one go."

She then laughed, "As long as Murphy's Law doesn't strike then we'll be fine in the end."

Mack tried not to wince at the cast that was on Daria's nose and wouldn't come off for another couple days, "If anyone tries anything then they deal with me."

Said Mack, very firmly and with a flex of his defined and chisled muscles.

Daria laughed, "Ok Atlas Man, cool your horses, we're going to be in a house of God."

Mack laughed as a reply, "Alright.. DeeDee."

Daria frowned at that and Mack replied, "What, No pet names?"

She thought for a moment while they walked to the door before saying, "...Only if I can call you Mack Daddy."

Mack froze like a deer in the headlights before he busted up laughing, "Hahaha, that's was good... Well my special _lady_ can call me Mack Daddy if I can call her DeeDee... And punch Kevin in the stomach instead of the arm."

Daria smiled, "Deal."

They stood in the doorway for a brief moment before their bodies followed primordial instincts and they kissed fiercely for a long time before parting and Daria with great reluctance said, "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow."

"Yes I will." Mack replied softly as she opened the door and slipped into the house.

They whispered goodbyes to each other before she shut the door, Mack stood there for a minute before walking home with a soft smile and a spring in his step.

* * *

Daria slipped into her room, thankful that her father had passed out on the couch waiting for her, and her mother was no doubt out cold in their bedroom, not even her normally overbearing momma bear instincts could keep her awake after yet another fourteen hour shift.

But as soon as she flicked on the light, there was a note tapped to the small mirror on her dresser drawer.

Daria read it and sighed, "Well I guess I can tell Quinn about most of it."

The date was innocent enough, even if it still felt like an intrusion on her younger sister's part.

While getting out of her clothes and slipping into her drab night clothes, Daria then had the idle thought that her boy-crazy materialistic sister was curious about a relationship that wasn't based on the arcane rules of popularity and getting everything right.

"I'll find out when we talk." was Daria's last thought on the matter while wiping the makeup off her face, she needed sleep since she was having to wake up way earlier than normal on a Sunday to go to, of all places, a church.

"As long as the Landon's themselves don't show up, how bad could it be?" Daria asked herself as she let herself drift into dreamland.

She just hoped that the evil unicorn from her dream last night couldn't come back, that thing secretly freaked her out.


	12. XII

**Mack the Esteemer (XII)**

As the Mackenzie's SUV pulled up in the church parking lot, Daria in her black and white dress commented, "There are a lot of people here."

Next to her in a nice suit Mack answered, "The AMCL is sort of the go-to church for the African community in Lawndale County as a whole."

Daria went, "Ah." as she and Mack climbed out of the vehicle and followed Mack parents in their Sunday best, and once they were around the car they held hands.

She became very aware of the fact that other than a couple odd-ball Asians in the crowd she was the only Caucasian in attendance, and the double-takes from some of the members of the congregation brought that fact home to her.

They came within earshot of a group of teenage girls that Daria didn't recognize and heard one of them say, "Ugh! We lost another good one..."

Daria smirked at that and gave Mack's hand an extra squeeze, then a gust of wind forced her to grab ahold of the hat she had borrowed from Linda Mackenzie.

"I hate wearing these things." she muttered as she waited for the wind to die down a bit.

Mack laughed, "Never did wear hats myself."

His bare head was a testament to the African Methodist Church of Lawndale's belief that heads of men should be bare, women's covered.

Quite a few people greeted the Mackenzie's warmly, and Daria noted the various reactions to her and Mack together, some masked surprise with smiles, others were displeased, and others didn't seem bothered at all.

Then a familiar voice emerged from the crowd, "Daria!"

She turned and found Tori Jericho coming up to her with a black girl wearing an orange dress in tow that she later learned was Tori's best friend, Rene Glass.

"Tori," Daria said in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"Rene asked me to come today," Tori said with a smile before adding a bit more quietly, "She heard through the grapevine that you were coming and she thought you might feel better with at least one other white girl present."

Daria replied, "I'm fine but thank you for being concerned."

"No problem," Tori replied nicely, "It's good to see Mack happy, I haven't seen him smiling like that in ages."

Daria glanced over to where Mack had gone, he was standing next to his Dad while he was chatting with a friend, but every time Mack looked over her way his eyes would light up like twin beacons.

"A lot seems to be turning upside-down since you and Quinn moved to Lawndale," Tori commented to bring the focus back to herself, "I mean Sandi seemed reluctant to let me in the Fashion Club until she saw what I could bring to the table during your makeover. And she's been a bit nicer and even Upchuck is toning down the whole slime ball thing."

Daria laughed, "I'll believe that one when I see it."

They both chuckled together but were interrupted by Rene saying loudly, "Oh my god, I can't believe they came."

Daria and Tori followed her gaze and noticed a very expensive Mercedes pulling up and two very posh looking people got out, the woman had a baby in a carrier, a young girl got out of the back.

Then a hand covered in a white bandage emerged and Jodie Landon followed it.

Tori and Rene turned quickly to face Daria, her face a complete deadpan mask and as silent as a tomb.

As the murmurs of the crowd grew she made an about face and walked over to Mack and leaned on him for support.

It didn't take him or his parents long to figure out what was going on.

"They let her out of the hospital?" George asked no one in particular as he watched the Landon's moving through the crowd, Andrew Landon glad-handing people normally as if nothing out of the ordinary was occurring.

"Either CPS dropped the ball or they were bribed royally." Linda muttered under her breath darkly.

The Devil then came within their range and Jodie got one look at Daria and grabbed onto her mother's shoulder and whispered to her.

The woman that Daria learned was named Michele patted her daughter on the shoulder and said something back and Jodie made a beeline for the church itself, then she gave Daria a cold stare as they approached.

George suppressed a sigh and exchanged polite greetings with Andrew Landon.

"So how's the budding family business coming along?" Andrew asked once they had that out of the way.

"Very nicely." George replied with a small satisfied smile.

He then complimented Linda on her new royal purple dress and matching pillbox hat, and said hello to Mack, then he said greeted Daria as if she was an old friend of the family.

A bit thrown off by this, she kept it civil but there was little warmth in her tone.

Michele in the meanwhile was looking everywhere except at Daria.

When they moved on, Daria exhaled with visible relief, "What the hell?!"

Linda heard that, "They come like clockwork once a month, otherwise they go to that fancy church for the rich white people, gets them into the fancy parties and clubs apparently."

"Lets them try at any rate." George corrected with a snort of contempt, "I thought they wouldn't show their faces... Considering."

"Hmph," Linda snorted as a reply, "They have no shame."

Mack looked apologetically at Daria but she simply said, "This wasn't your fault."

She then took his hand again and nudged him in the direction of the big church doors where an older man with short cut graying hair in big blue robes waited greeting his flock.

* * *

Inside the African Methodist Church of Lawndale, Daria sat on the hardwood pew fanning herself with a provided fan with a bible in her lap, Mack on her left, Linda Mackenzie on her right, Minister Hughes was getting things in full swing and was proving to be an energetic fellow, jumping around, moving his hands in dramatic gestures, the choir singing to a good tune, and the days focus was on 'How God's Love Enriches Your Life'.

Daria had to admit that he was good at what he did, he kept the congregation interested in what he was saying, and he kept it positive and high octane on the energy so that you wouldn't be bored.

Before she knew it, she was singing along with everyone else, a bit more quietly, but she was singing.

Mack said to her once the song was done, "Your better than Trent."

"Gee that's setting the bar high." Daria snarked, feeling relief at being able to engage in some sarcasm for once that morning.

She had been holding back the barbs due to the very unfamiliar waters she was now swimming in.

"In a place like this who the hell knows how my 'charms' would be taken." Daria reminded herself firmly.

* * *

A row behind her, Tori Jericho leaned over to Rene and whispered, "Do you think the Landon's will start something?"

Rene just looked at her.

"...Point taken." Tori muttered before focusing back on Hughes who was about to lead them in a short prayer.

* * *

Jodie Landon sat staring down at her snow white bandages on her wrists as Hughes talked about impossible things, like love and happiness.

"We're all lied to as kids," she thought darkly, "Happiness ends when you grow up."

She wasn't completely sure how her parents had gotten the hospital and CPS to let them take her to church, but she had to go back since she was still legally under 'observation'.

"No doubt money was involved." she thought to herself while her eyes absorbed each little detail of what was in front of her, the grains on the pew she was sitting on, the feel of the leather binding of her bible, how the sunlight shined on her red painted nails, even the taste of the air itself.

It seemed eerie that she felt at peace in those little moments of hyper focus, but considering that not even a couple days before she had thrown herself on death's door and been rejected, it was in those moments that she was glad to be alive.

Until she was reminded that everything was in limbo and that her parents were still in total denial about the situation.

"They think that with enough bribes and time that it'll all be swept under the rug," Jodie thought to herself while mouthing a prayer with everyone else, "I don't think that's going to work this time."

Her wrists were testament to that.

* * *

Time slipped away and before Daria knew it, the service was over and everyone began to head through a side door that Mack informed her went to the basement.

"Lunch time." he said with glee, "And Shanda whipped up her famous three-chocolates cake."

Mack was licking his lips at the thought and explained to a confused Daria that it was a cake that had chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate layers.

"No one can figure out what else she does with it," Mack said as they headed down, "But the results are freaking amazing."

Daria wondered if she would like something that rich or not, "I'll give it a shot." she told him.

They got in line at the buffet table and loaded up their plates with donated home cooked food and Daria got a slice of the infamous cake at the end and followed Mack to a table.

She heard people talking about all sorts of things, snippets about the weather, a girl who had just had a baby, an old gent talking about his arthritis, but she saw stares from most of them as she passed them, some hostile, others curious, but they all got under her skin.

"I'm not a zoo exhibit dammit." she thought to herself, wanting to make some sort of comment just to relieve the tension.

What helped was that the growing topic was the subject of the Landon's.

"Nouvea rich prigs if you ask me," One older woman told another, "Oh so high and mighty and actin' like their shit didn't stink... Well look at 'em now."

"Heh," the other older woman laughed right back, "and they had the nerve to come here and keep up the condescending act... A big joke that's what it is."

Daria and Mack found his parents and took a seat next to them, one look at the Mackenzie's faces said it all.

"I take it you've heard what everyone's saying?" Mack asked of them and Linda answered, "Yes we have..."

She glanced at the Landon's, Andrew was going about his business as if this was just another Sunday, Michele was even more self-righteous than usual, her children were as silent as ghosts nearby.

Michele caught Linda's stare and stiffened and sniffed.

Linda shrugged without concern and asked Daria what she thought of the service.

"A lot livelier than the last church I was in," Daria replied and then explained, "That was right around when I was eight and we were visiting my Grandma Barksdale, we went to her Episcopalian Church and I was bored out of my mind the entire time."

Linda smiled, "I could see that."

Then they heard Michele's voice and looking up saw that she had come to within a table near them and was talking to a couple other women her age.

"Well we hope to put all of this behind us," Michele was telling them sagely, "Ultimately the incident involving Jodie and that man-stealing girl is just a speed bump."

"Oh I and the District Attorney's office beg to differ." Daria spoke up very loudly, cutting over quite a few voices and drawing attention to the situation.

Michele gave her a glare that could kill and snapped, "Well our lawyers will see about _that_ girl and how you provoked the fight..."

Daria cut her off, "There was no fight, Jodie assaulted me without provocation, I was in the hospital because of it, and you can get whatever lawyer you want. I have the truth on my side, you can't beat that."

Andrew Landon was rushing up in the meanwhile and began to hiss words to his wife, but she pushed him aside clearly having none of it.

She began to retort but was cut off once more.

This time by Linda Mackenzie.

"Michele!" she snapped in barely restrained fury, "You are acting like a fool! This _girl_ as you called her has a name, Daria Morgendorffer, and she, like your kids deserve a hell of a lot better than you or your husband have been giving them."

"What?!" the Landon's replied in outrage, but Linda wasn't giving them an inch.

"From what I've seen, you pushed and pushed and pushed Jodie until she broke, then you have completely abandoned responsibility for your mess and even now with her wrists stitched up you are still pushing her to fit into your 'perfect negro family image' so you can look down on the rest of us."

Michele and Andrew were completely floored, not responding at all to this explosion.

Linda folded her arms across her chest and looked like a Queen passing a sentence of execution, "You know what I think? I think you don't actually love any of your children. They're just part of your 'we're the good one's' image that seems to matter more than life itself."

Linda Mackenzie was working herself up into a cold fury, "But hey, what does it matter if you can get into that fancy pants country club that'll let you suck up to the old money WASP's who don't even _like_ you... you... you Oreos!"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" Michele yelled at the top of her lungs at Linda, who didn't back down.

"You heard me!" She said at sub-zero temperatures.

Michele's face twisted into a snarl and she began to move towards them but just before she could reach them, Minister Hughes stepped in front of her and said very flatly, "Miss Landon... I think it's time for you and your family to leave."

Michele froze in her tracks and seemed to come back into herself, the anger leaving her body as she took in the faces of everyone looking at her, people she had known for years that now were seeing her as a stranger, not as a friend or a person to be respected, but some alien thing to be despised.

She took a tentative step back and grabbed onto to her husband, who for his part was trying to think of something to say that would make it all go away, but in the end he gave up and deflated in front of them all and lead his wife out of the basement.

His youngest daughter carried the baby and Jodie was the last one out, but she turned back and looked at everyone with a face of apology but didn't say anything until she had no choice but to depart.

As soon as the door was shut behind the Landon's, the entire basement erupted into applause.


	13. XIII

**Mack the Esteemer (XIII)**

"Wow!" Quinn exclaimed once Daria had finished speaking, "Where did they get the hutzpah to think they could get away with waltzing in as if everything was peachy?"

"I don't know." Daria admitted while idly kicking a barefoot on the carpet in the Morgendorffer living room.

She and Quinn were both sitting on the couch with the TV on mute, they weren't sure where their father was, but their mother had gone into the office to do some last minute paperwork.

They didn't expect to see her until dark.

After being dropped off by Mack's parents, Daria had found Quinn in the living room ready to launch an ambush.

She had managed to get away long enough to change, having given back the borrowed hat before coming home, she had just thrown on a pair of sweats and with no small amount of reluctance had gone back downstairs and answered her sister's barrage of questions.

Now that she had told her as much as she could, she sighed and added, "But I think that in the long term it was good for Jodie to see her parents be confronted about their crappy behavior."

Quinn nodded, "Yeah… But I can't help but wonder if our parents might try to pull something like that."

Daria shook her head, "Dad's too oblivious, Mom on the other hand veers between not paying attention to needing to be in total control so it kind of evens out."

She then gave her sister a slight smile, "Besides, during those times when Mom is trying to control everything I just push back against it to keep my sanity."

Quinn smiled back, and much more widely, "Actually yeah, when you put it that way it sounds about right."

There was a comfortable silence between them as Quinn turned the volume up on the TV, the sounds of the latest romantic comedy movie emerged.

Daria shut her eyes but avoided gritting her teeth, and then opened her eyelids in time to see Quinn speak again.

"You know Daria," Quinn said a bit more softly, "I don't remember the last time we talked like this, you like… this."

Daria went, "Heh, you know you're right… I don't either."

There was another pregnant pause before Quinn spoke up again, "I… I'm sorry again for, you know, telling everyone that I could that we weren't related."

Daria blinked in surprise and was silent for a while before saying very softly, "…It's ok now, you're forgiven."

Quinn's smile at those words revealed just how sincerely glad she truly was at hearing her strange, older sister say that.

They sat and watched the movie in silence, but it wasn't an unpleasant silence at all.

But when the credits were rolling, Quinn felt brave enough to ask the question that was burning her up.

"Daria?" Quinn spoke up while switching the TV off.

"Yes Quinn?"

"How do you think everything changed so quickly since the move?"

"I don't know," Daria admitted reluctantly, "I guess it might have started when I met Mack in that stupid Esteem class. I mean I don't know what it is but… Since I met him it feels like… Everything is right when I'm with him, you know?"

Quinn sighed sadly, "I wish I did Daria, I wish I did."

Daria replied, "You'll find someone Quinn, I promise."

Quinn seemed to become even more downcast, "How?"

Daria smiled slightly, "I met Mack didn't I? Surely you of all people can find the right guy."

Quinn managed a laugh, "Daria, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up but, well… All I'm good for is being pretty and popular, it's all that I'm good at, at any rate. I mean I guess we all get to be good at something and… This is all I've got."

Quinn then sighed, "And I don't think that a great guy like Mack would be interested in a girl like me."

"Quinn," Daria replied while fighting back a wave of pity, "You're only fourteen, and trust me you are capable of more than you think, just… Give yourself a chance. That's kind of what I did with Mack and yeah I was completely thrown out of my comfort zone countless times since meeting him but… I… I just went with it and you know what? It's all somehow, unbelievably worked out for the best."

Daria then moved in a bit closer to her sibling and added, "Like I just said, give yourself a chance, that's all."

Then she did something she hadn't done with Quinn for years.

She gave her sister a hug.

* * *

Daria stared at the pile of car magazines on the Mackenzie's living room coffee table like they were contaminated with radioactive isotopes.

Mack was forced to suppress a smirk and a belly laugh and managed to pull it off by the skin of his teeth.

"It's ok DeeDee," Mack told her with great seriousness, "They don't bite."

Daria sighed and replied, "Ok Mack Daddy… Let's get this over with."

"That's the spirit!" Mack replied and let a laugh out with relief and sat down with her on his living room couch and began to show her some of the local ads, and a couple that he thought that she should get her parents to check out.

"I'd better have Mom take me," Daria noted aloud, "She's always been able to get a good deal at the car lots."

Mack grinned, "Big-shot lawyer type like her? Why am I not surprised at her being able to close a deal?"

"Because you have a functioning brain?" Daria offered up with a dry sense of humor.

"And with you and Jane in town that makes a grand total of three." Mack added while showing her a Pathfinder that he liked.

After a few minutes of looking through the various magazines, Daria admitted to herself that the white Camaro, the red Infiniti, and the dark blue Acura were her favorites.

She then teased Mack about liking the Cadillac and he laughed, "Hey, what can I say? I'm a sucker for the classic American car."

Daria just shook her head, "There are so many jokes I can make here it's almost not funny."

She paused before adding, "Almost."

* * *

Jodie Landon was sitting on the bed in her hospital room, back in observation, and oddly enough feeling pretty good.

The TV was on, playing an old episode of Sick, Sad World, she hadn't been a regular watcher, of SSW or really any TV since Freshman year and her parents had pulled out all the stops, making her work her butt off in order to be, well…

"Little Miss Perfect," Jodie thought to herself feeling rotten again, "The self-proclaimed Queen of the Black Kids, the one who had to set the example for the others to follow…"

Unlike all the other times when this served as part-mantra and part-curse, this time she was thinking it without either emotional inflections, just facts being recited and nothing more.

She looked down at her wrists and thought again, "And look where it got me."

She glanced at the door, a while after her parents had brought her back to the hospital her caseworker had apparently come to call and had been unpleasantly surprised to find that she had been taken out of the hospital, flouting several laws and regulations in the process.

The Landon's legal bills were piling up, and this time it wasn't her fault at all.

"Not that they won't try to blame me," Jodie thought darkly as she watched the TV screen blankly, "But Linda… She's probably right."

"About everything." Jodie said to herself softly.

She then blinked and gave a long and very weary sigh, and felt her eyes flutter open.

The world around her hadn't changed a bit, but within her mind, something broke and she found herself being forced to ask, "Were they the ones that were pushing me so hard? Or was it me?"

A tiny part of her soul told her that the answer was probably somewhere in between the two.

The show ended without her realizing it, but her eyes while seemingly glued to the small overhead TV were in fact turned completely inward.

And a girl named Jodie Landon was truly beginning to see things for what they really were.

* * *

"Yo Mack, Daria!" Jane greeted them as she entered the Mackenzie's house, unannounced as was her custom.

They both looked up from the magazines on the table and they both offered hellos in turn.

That out of the way, once Jane learned what they were up too, and got her hands on the story about the Church from them, grinned and said, "Yeah… That's what I heard."

"How did word spread so quickly?" Daria asked since her mind was in the fog of car info.

Mack just laughed, "This is…"

"Lawndale!" all three of them finished in unison, even Daria.

She then sat down with them and felt a small stab of envy at the idea of being able to buy a car for herself.

"Hell, I'm lucky to get regular food." Jane thought a bit bitterly before shoving that thought aside, she ate at school, and when things were especially tight at Casa Lane the Mackenzie's had never refused Mack inviting her over for dinner.

Instead she asked when they were going car shopping.

Mack answered, "Dad's taking me after work on Monday, Daria plans to ask her Mom, if she isn't busy with her case."

Jane raised an eyebrow, "Don't you mean case-es?"

"Point taken." Daria commented, "…I guess it'll be my Dad with me… This is going to be _fun_."

Even a complete moron would have picked up on the sarcasm she inserted into the word 'fun'.

Neither Mack or Jane asked what she meant by that, they had both gotten tastes of Jake Morgendorffer and his horror stories about Military School and his father Mad Dog.

"This will either be a train wreck of mythical proportions," Jane said with anticipation, "Or your father will pull a surprise out of his butt and turn out to have a natural knack at car buying."

"Your attempt at cheering me up is appreciated," Daria informed her, "But I already know that it's the first one, not the second."

"Damn." Jane replied before patting her on the back for comfort's sake.

Mack however had a thought, "Maybe you could come with me and my Dad instead, I'm sure your parents could be talked into letting my Dad help you, since it'll let us have time together and they'll think that he'll be a strict supervisor."

Even Jane had to laugh at that one, "Your Dad is many things buster, but strict with his kid's dating life isn't one of them."

Daria started to wonder what she meant by that before telling herself, "No, don't pry into the past, it'll only cause drama."

That was the last thing that she needed right now.


	14. XIV

**Mack the Esteemer (XIV)**

Going back to school that Monday was a dramatic shift from how she had been treated just that last week before.

People that had once barely noticed her existence, were now openly greeting her kindly, and to her amazement this was phenomenon was happening even when she wasn't anywhere near Mack at all.

"How'd I get all these friends?" Daria snarked to Jane during a rare moment alone around third period.

Jane chuckled, "Well between Li, Jodie, and bringing Mack out of his self-imposed social exile... I'd say it was at least one of the three."

Daria couldn't resist a smirk.

However she did have to tell Mack the bad news around lunch that the plan to get all their car shopping done with his Dad was a no go.

"My parents wouldn't hear of it," she fumed at their refusal to see her logic, "Even though I pointed out that with their schedules that it would be easier to have your Dad help. But oh no! They've decided that this week, they want to be parents... Until someone calls."

Mack tried to think of something to say in her parents defense, but between the bitterness in her voice and what he had already been told and seen about them, he suspected that this was a minefield best left undisturbed.

Instead he turned to a more enjoyable topic, their upcoming trip to Alternapalooza.

"Well," Daria said much more gladly, "Once we do have our wheels, we'll need to gather up supplies for me, you, Jane, and the four guys of Mystik Spiral."

Mack nodded and then added, "There's a third group of people going to the show."

"Who?" Daria asked, not liking the grin on Mack's face as she asked.

"Kevin and Brittany." he informed her and then added quickly, "Don't worry, they're taking Kevin's jeep, so this time at least, they are on their own."

Daria laughed just as Jane joined them at their table, the artist in the red coat had apparently heard this so she butted in with, "Wow, Mack isn't babysitting the QB for once? It's a miracle!"

"Hallelujah!" Daria piled on in a sardonic tone with a weakly gestured praying motion.

Mack just laughed, "Hey I've gotten a lot better about that since... Well you know."

Daria and Jane both grinned at that, and after a minute Mack sighed and added, "Well ok, I have been keeping an eye on him, and yeah he's a total goof but... He was like the only dude on the team that never gave me a hard time for quitting."

Jane nodded at that, "Yeah, but he made you suffer by never learning that you don't like to be called Mack Daddy."

Before Mack could respond, Daria informed Jane that, "I can get away with it."

Mack grinned, "Yeah, DeeDee can call me Mack Daddy."

Daria blushed as Jane gave her a very evil grin, then she looked over Mack's shoulder and said, "Oh, Kevin and Brit are headed our way... I'm pretty sure they heard that."

Daria and Mack both groaned as the QB and his cheerleader girlfriend approached them, saying happy "Hi's" in unison.

They sat down at the normally vacant table and Brittany asked with a twirl of her fingers in her blond braids, "Wow, I like your nickname Daria... DeeDee... Much easier to remember."

Daria facepalmed.

* * *

Throughout the rest of the day, Daria met and talked to more people than she had ever expected to in her entire life.

It was easily the most draining thing she had ever endured.

And yet, once she got over the initial shock and instinctive lurch back into her protective shell, it proved a bit... _rewarding_.

Unlike the countless times before when she had taken risks and talked to other kids her age, hell some adults as well, opened herself up and shown them a little bit about herself, and had been rewarded with name-calling, teasing, ignorance, misunderstanding, or  
outright nastiness.

This time, people were more receptive, even if they didn't understand everything she had to say.

"Is this what being truly popular is like?" Daria asked herself as she went into DeMartino's and sat down next to Jane and Mack as she thought over everything, "Because if it is... It feels... Nice."

Even in a state of rare bliss, Daria had noted the difference between what most teenagers considered to be the criteria for 'popular' and the actual concept of being 'respected' or even 'well-liked'.

Hell, she had seen several teachers give her secret thumbs up, Defoe had slipped her a small tin full of rock candy when no one was looking, even O'Neill had been impressed, though in his case that resulted in more unwanted attention from him that had required extreme effort on her part to avoid.

A grey cloud, amidst a sea of clear blue skies that day at Lawndale High, the first such day in the entirety of her time in any school, ever.

Then more grey clouds came when school ended and the next task of the day lay ahead, car shopping with dear old Dad.

"Well if he can avoid saying something stupid or rants about military school..." Daria began to think with rare optimism before cold stark realism reared its ugly head, "Yeah I'm screwed."

The walk home was pleasant, especially since Jane decided to give them some space and made sure to go on ahead, letting Mack and her have some much needed privacy.

It took a lot longer than normal to get back home, since they found a shady spot and did what lots of teenage couples were fond of doing, necking.

But alas they had to go back, once there Daria split off from her beau, but not before giving him one last kiss with the light of the sun pouring on them.

Daria parted from him with reluctance and went into the house and caught her reflection in the glass of the television set as she sat down in front of it before turning it on.

She had worn a Pink Floyd T-shirt, jeans, her usual combat boots, and some makeup, not a whole lot, but just enough to bring some color to her face.

Between this and her new glasses she looked... Different.

But not so different that she felt like an alien.

An old episode of Sick, Sad World played just as her father came in with a big hello and asked in a happy voice if she was ready to go.

She shrugged, "Aw, what the hell? You only live once."

Jake laughed, hoping that it was one of his daughter's strange jokes.

* * *

Daria spotted George Mackenzie's car whiz past them, heading to one of the dealerships no doubt, while her father was mercifully distracted from his usual borderline suicidal driving by his going over his game plan.

It wasn't a bad plan, but she had her doubts that he could pull it off without some sort of flub that would cost them more than they had bargained for.

Oddly enough her father didn't go to one of the cheap looking used car lots that she had expected, instead he picked one that looked more well cared for.

She didn't get a chance to see the name on the sign, instead her gaze fell on the various vehicles on the lot, they were split between two sides, and she guessed that one side was for new cars, the other for used.

They parked in the area reserved for customers and were greeted at the door by a one of the salesmen, his name was Caleb and he was a bit less smarmy than a couple of the others she spotted, for the moment she was taking a back seat and just observing, but she did speak when needed.

After introductions were made, Caleb took them out to the used lot, and to her surprise she saw a bright, cherry red Infiniti a few cars down, just like one that was advertised in one of Mack's car rags.

This one, she later discovered, was a year younger than that one, and had a retractable roof and leather interior. For some reason she couldn't take her eyes off it.

Caleb noticed that and kept his smile to himself as he showed the Morgendorffer girl and her father around a bit, then he asked the million dollar question.

"So..." he said casually, "Is there any that particularly interest you?"

Daria whispered to Jake about the Infiniti, and he said aloud, "Well Daria wants to get a closer look at the Infiniti."

Caleb allowed himself a grin and took them right over to it and recited it's history.

Since Daria didn't have her license yet, she didn't get to test drive it herself, so Jake did that for her, with her in the back, and Caleb up in the front, telling them various details about the vehicle.

Once they were back on the lot, the Infiniti parked where it had been before, Caleb took them inside and offered them refreshments before sitting them down and opened the preliminaries.

Daria found herself wide-eyed with shock as her father kept it cool as a cucumber and began to hammer out a pretty good deal, granted all the details of the loan and the payments needed longer than a few minutes to work out, but Daria noted that her father was avoiding any fancy negotiating tricks that would have otherwise tripped him up.

"Plus this Caleb fellow isn't trying to cheat us," Daria noted to herself, "Most car dealers I've come across were barely legal crooks."

Then again her parents had bought most of their cars from cheap lots until the recent acquisition of the Lexus, living within their means until they had made it.

"Things have changed." Daria thought to herself with a small burst of pleasure as her father clinched the deal and Caleb called their bank to get the estimate for the loan.

Once he was out of the room, her Dad turned to her and asked a bit more nervously, "How'd I do, Kiddo?"

"As far as I can tell, pretty damn good." Daria assured him, and they both chuckled at her use of a minor swear word.

Just in time for Caleb to come back with the bank's offer, since her father had offered a couple thousand down, they had made it a bit better than expected, his and Mom's credit was emmaculate, so that also played a role.

But she was still thankful that the school district was already having to pony up a big settlement quickly to squelch the story of Li's blackmail attempt.

"Getting the Landon's to settle will take a bit longer," Daria reminded herself, "But between them and Li... I've got this and college covered."

Then with a few signatures, she was handed the keys and her Dad got the title and the paperwork and on their way out, with complimentary coffee and donuts, she looked at him and asked, "Is it always this easy?"

Jake laughed, "Oh god no! Normally you have to look for days, sometimes weeks to get the right deal."

He grinned and added, "Isn't it great that this just fell into our laps?"

"Yeah," she assured him, "Great."

Now she was worried that another shoe was about to drop.

But when she looked at the Infiniti for the first time with the keys in her hands, the keys to _her car_, those fears melted away with a wash of pride.

She looked back at her father and said, "...See you at home, dad."

Jake just beamed with pride, "Yeah Kiddo, we're having lasagna. Feel free to invite Mack over if you'd like."

Daria laughed and bounded to the car with a spring in her step, shocking the hell out of her father in the process, and didn't give him an answer.

Though she was very careful in her driving out of the lot, since she knew she wasn't a very good driver.

It took her a while to get back home, since anything else than old lady speeds was a bit beyond her ability at the moment.

* * *

When she did pull up in the driveway, she glanced down the street at the Mackenzie's and saw an unfamiliar white Dodge Durango parked with the other two cars.

"I thought he was getting a Pathfinder." Daria thought to herself just before her mother's SUV came into view on the street, and she heard Quinn's squeal of delight as she bounded out of the house, excitement and envy mixed into every syllable.

Daria just gave a Mona Lisa smile to the world as her reply.


	15. XV

**Mack the Esteemer (XV)**

If Daria had thought that her last return to Lawndale High was a March of Triumph, it didn't even compare to coming to school in a shiny red new (looking) Infiniti with the top down.

Granted Mack was driving since she wanted to work on her driving skills away from the prying eyes her peers, but for Daria this was big.

It was even bigger for one Jane Lane, who had a whole new thing to tease Daria about, lovingly of course.

"Gee Daria," Jane said with a grin so innocent, it wouldn't fool a saint, "With your new outfits and cute car, does this mean that I have to get a subscription for Val or Waif?"

While Daria grumbled something incoherent, Mack just laughed, "Jane the fashionista… It just doesn't even sound right."

That got Daria to smile a little as the three of them climbed out of the vehicle, and the first wave of stares and ooohhhss and awwwwss emerged.

They hadn't even gotten into the building when Brittany Taylor bounded to them, leaving Kevin in his jeep.

"Oh my god!" she squeaked, "Who's car is that?!"

"Mine." Daria stated simply.

Then she had to cover her ears due to the splitting squeal of delight that Brittany issued.

"I really should invest in earplugs." Jane muttered to herself.

As Brittany oozed her congratulations, Daria found herself grabbing Mack's hand for support.

He gave her a comforting squeeze before they trickled in with the rest of the student body; she had gotten better with the whole 'social interaction' thing.

But yet another wave of mass attention so soon after the last few was proving to be a bit much at the moment.

* * *

Jodie had settled herself into her last day in the hospital, which meant trying to fill her mind-numbing boredom with a glut of bad TV and even worse food.

Her caseworker, for lack of a better term, had seen her the hour before and informed her that she would be 'temporarily' relocated to her Uncle Zack's in Sweedesville, while the Landon's home life was 'thoroughly investigated'.

"Whatever that means." Jodie sneered to herself while channel surfing.

Then when she stopped at random on a movie channel she heard a knock at her door.

"You can come in." Jodie hollered without looking, it was probably one of the observation nurses, or something.

The something as it turned out was her little sister, Rachel Landon, her normally braided hair flowing free behind her.

In lieu of her usual yellow outfits, she was in drab colors designed to blend into the background as much as possible.

"Hi sis." Rachel said as she entered, closing the door firmly behind her.

"Rachel?!" Jodie exclaimed, not quite believing that her eleven year old sibling had shown up, by herself, in Cedars of Lawndale in the middle of the day.

"Yeah it's me." Rachel replied as she took a chair next to her sister's bed, "And before you ask, yes I snuck out of school, no I will not tell you the details, but I will admit that I owe Sam and Brian big favors for making this possible."

Jodie for her part was completely floored by her baby sister pulling off a stunt like this.

She wasn't even sure why Rachel had gone to all this trouble.

She was about to find out.

"Mom and Dad are driving me crazy." Rachel said very flatly, "Ever since you… well… I don't even have the whole story, they won't tell me anything, except now they are going out of their way to find things to fill my time."

That last sentence nearly stopped Jodie's heart cold.

Her eyes went wide and she moaned, "Oh no! Rachel, they're trying to pull the same crap that they've done to me."

Rachel looked forlorn as she replied, "I thought as much, I mean I know that you had some sort of a breakdown, but I… I don't know what all is going on and I… I'm scared."

She said the last so flatly, so coldly it was disturbing.

Jodie's inner voice whispered that no little girl should ever have to sound like that, especially if her parents had a hand in the making it so.

"Rachel," Jodie said softly, "Get comfortable because this is a long story."

Rachel did as she was asked and Jodie began to speak, haltingly at first but soon enough she got her words to flow.

The story was a bit more than just the recent situation but the events that led up to it, how their parents had thrown more and more at her to do and she, Jodie, had just gone along with it.

Working herself to the bone with extracurricular and charity work in order to get the perfect college application, and coincidentally make their parents look good as well.

When it came to the Mack situation, she did hold back the parts that her sister was too young to understand, but the gist was there, and Jodie didn't have much mercy for herself on that score.

Rachel gasped when Jodie reached the part about the suicide attempt, her parents had made up a story about Jodie having an accident with a window pane.

Rachel hadn't bought it of course, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to reach the obvious conclusion.

Then the story petered out after the Linda/Michele blowup at church and Jodie sighed, signaling that she had reached the end.

Rachel was weeping silent, unnoticed tears, as she slowly crawled from her chair and went over to the bed and put her arms around her big sister.

They stayed like that for a long time.

* * *

After a rather long day at school, Daria wasn't more grateful to be at the local Pizza Prince than she ever had been before.

And considering just how new she was to the area that said a lot.

She rubbed her full belly and gave a satisfied sigh, and smiled at Mack from across the table.

"I needed this." She informed him sagely.

Mack grinned, "I had a feeling… Oh and Jane told me it was a good idea no less than five times within the first three hours of school."

Daria allowed a smirk to take over her face, "Well considering the latest wave of attention, I needed to unwind, and Ms. Lane's instincts and mine are clearly in sync."

"Isn't N'Sync a boy-band?" Mack asked rhetorically.

Daria shuddered, "Don't remind me."

Mack grinned, "I just did."

To change topics, and to avoid any references to other talentless boy-bands, Daria instead asked if he had any bright ideas on how to shake up the school.

"Since we don't get enough attention already." Was Daria's endnote to her snark.

Mack just shrugged his shoulders, "I got nuthin', but I have no doubt that Ms. Li will unleash some money-grubbing scheme soon enough, we'll respond to it, then chaos will ensure and some combination of you, me, and Jane will be required to either fix it, or make it worse."

Daria gave an actual snicker at that.

Mack then added, "It's one of the two."

Daria snickered again.

"As for our current plans," Mack drawled while taking the lid off of his drink cup and proceeded to play with an ice cube, "We'll pick up some supplies for the Alternapaloza trip later tonight, I don't trust Trent and his friends to remember to do it, or to shower for that matter."

"Is it sad that Trent and the boys of Mystik Sprial are so easy to peg?"

"It should be," Mack conceded, "But look around you Daria, we live in Lawndale."

The ice cube that he had been toying with slipped out of his hands and fell on the floor under the table.

"Yeah that just about sums it up." Daria said with a shrug, and a slight nostalgic thought of saying a similar phrase about Highland Texas a lot.

"At least Lawndale comes with two people that are worth knowing." Daria thought to herself as the server came to their table with the bill.

* * *

As she put a final brush stroke on her latest piece, Jane felt the familiar presence of her brother from behind.

It wasn't that difficult since his shambling was both audible and a dead giveaway to anyone between the ages of 'Reason' and 'Nearly Dead'.

"Hey Janie," Trent drawled as his little sister turned around, palette and paintbrush in hand, "What's goin' on?"

"Working on a small portrait of O'Neill being eaten alive by pig demons, though in the background you can see a few of them puking him back up." Was Jane's answer.

"Hm… Cool." Trent replied after a moment of looking at said portrait.

He then gave her a hard to read look and said, "I'm surprised that you're not with Mack and Daria."

Jane shrugged, "I had to give the lovebirds some space, even if they currently have pizza in it."

Trent began to laugh but it turned into a cough, "Small sacrifices huh?"

"Yeah pretty much." Jane said with a hint of loneliness before she set her palette down on the towel on the ground.

Trent gave her a small smile, "It's ok Janie, sometimes you have to do your own thing and let your friends do theirs."

"Yeah I guess." Jane said a bit more sadly, "It's just… I kind of have gotten used to their company, and when I'm not in it, well…"

Trent put his arms around her, giving Jane a small shock before she relaxed.

"It's ok Janie," he cooed, "If you're worried about your friendship, don't be. The three of you are like three peas in a pod. It wouldn't look right if there weren't three peas in it."

That got a small chuckle out of his raven haired sister as she hugged back a bit, "Thanks Trent, I needed that."

Trent let her go and replied, "No problem, and remember Janie, at the end of the day you'll always have your big brother."

"Even if you're passed out?"

Trent gave her a full blow smile, "Even if I'm passed out, just wave food in my face, I'll wake up."

The warm, fuzzy feeling that they both got was ruined a couple moments later by the sounds of Jesse, Nick, and Max arriving for band practice.

Those sounds involved Nick and Max starting to argue about who was more alternative, and Jesse going, "Yeah." and, "Uh…", and "Guys I think we're here."

"Never a dull moment." Jane said as Trent moved as quickly as he could back downstairs to try and mediate.

Which meant that he was still in the room to hear that, but not even Trent could argue against it.

That is, if he could muster the energy to do so.


	16. XVI

**Mack the Esteemer (XVI)**

Rachel was in her brother's nursery, having gotten home hours later than normal.

Her parents had completely failed to jive to that fact.

Or that she had skipped school.

In fact Rachel suspected that they might not be aware that she was _in the house!_

From what she could tell, her mother had spent all day on the phone with their lawyer, while Dad had conducted highly important business meetings from the golf course.

A trigger for a lot of spiteful, barely repressed resentment on her mother's part on a normal day.

Rachel snickered, "It hasn't even been a normal month."

As soon as the truth had come out, Michele Landon decided that this would be the perfect outlet for all her anger and frustration.

Andrew just went with the usual tactic of burying his head in the sand, then when that didn't work got very defensive.

Evan's room was normally the quietest part of the house (except when he was crying).

It wasn't living up to its reputation, the yelling and screaming could be heard all through the house.

Rachel looked down at her baby brother, keeping him calm was becoming an impossible task; normally she resented the hell out of being his nursemaid.

This time…

She looked into his soft, innocent brown eyes and said, "We can't take this anymore."

Evan cooed.

Rachel grabbed some swaddling and blankets before wrapping him up tight and walking out of the room.

Andrew and Michele were so wrapped up in their philosophical debate that they didn't notice their daughter calling the cops, much less CPS.

Nor did they hear the front door slam as she walked out with their only son, in her arms slowly falling asleep.

When Lawndale's finest arrived they found Rachel Landon sitting on the front steps with a baby in her arms.

The yelling that could be heard the instant the front door was opened indicated that her parents were still going at full steam.

The officer that got the short straw and had to go in thought that it was going to be a very long night.

And he was right.

* * *

In the Morgendorffer's kitchen, Helen finished informing Daria of the latest about the settlement with the Landon's.

"Their lawyer is desperate to get this off his plate since his clients are staring down the gun barrel of several other charges relating to the stunts they pulled." Helen explained with the latest briefs in front of her.

Across from the table, Daria sat quietly, taking it all in.

Helen smirked, "Jim is confident he can get quite a bit out of them, especially since the Landon's legal team set up the final negotiations for tomorrow, which means…"

Daria understood what that meant and almost pitied the Landon's.

Almost.

* * *

The next day at Lawndale High, Ms. Butterbean looked especially peeved, though even Kevin realized it was due to the fact that she was awake _and_ being forced to do her job.

"So for the" Butterbean yawned and then forgot what she was saying for the millionth time, "You know…" Yawn "That word that starts with an…" Yawn "A."

"Ten bucks says she passes out while standing." Mack said to Daria at their shared lab table.

"No sucker bets." Daria answered just as Ms. Butterbean's eyes began to roll in her head for a second, before she caught herself.

"Alignments!" Kevin yelled out with a fist pump in the air.

"Yes, that." Butterbean commented with a blurry eye roll, "Now on the syllabus I put down 'mouse in maze', but grading that would be too much…" yawn,

"Work… So…"

She then struggled to come up with an effortless alternative, her wriggling hands in the air a sign that she was struggling.

Daria decided to toss out random words and see what happened.

"Androphobia."

Everyone else looked confused, except for Mack who just looked intrigued.

"Grim."

Butterbean blanched at that word for some reason.

Mack then tossed out, "Diorama."

It was Daria's turn to look confused, he just winked.

Butterbean latched onto something she understood.

"DIORAMA!" she yelled.

All of her students clapped their hands to their ears.

Ms. Butterbean froze for a second before stammering out, "Ju-just make a diorama about… whatever it is that's on the board."

Which was a crude drawing of a mouse and a piece of cheese, Butterbean had made it in lieu of writing actual notes for her students to take.

"Awright!" Kevin cheered, not having a clue what was going on.

Daria stared at Mack, who for his part shrugged, "She had to assign us something, why not something easy on all of us?"

"Even Kevin?"

Mack sighed, "Yes, even Kevin."

From behind them, Kevin was still struggling to understand what was going on, but he did hear his name so he went, "Thanks Mack Daddy and DeeDee!"

Mack and Daria both gave long suffering sighs, thankful that Jane didn't have this class with them.

* * *

While Mack and Daria were in Science Class, Ms. Li was in her lair, looking at the school's budget (both the official one, and the actual one) for that year, post-the quickly hammered out settlement to save her ass.

It was making her sick.

Vitale had ripped out a massive chunk of the money for her wonderful, Laaaawwwwwndaaaalllleeee Hiiiggghhhhh.

Which meant that those biometric readers for the staff toilets would have to be canceled, and she wouldn't be getting those bomb-sniffing dogs.

"Hell, I can forget about the new transmission jammers!" Li moaned, burying her head into her hands.

She needed new sources of cash or else she'd be forced to do something drastic.

Like cut the security and sports budgets.

It was unthinkable.

"Laaawwwwndaaalllleee Hiiiggghhh needs fundraisers!" Angela Li moaned, "But I can't use the really interesting stuff because of the possible backlash!"

She already had to send the modeling scouts packing, and was forced to post-pone the Tommy Sherman goalpost dedication for next year.

"At least the Roller Hockey game is still on." Li thought to herself, grateful for small favors.

Desperation slowly began to sink in as she grabbed a pad of paper and began jotting down ideas.

Four and a half pages in, Li felt like she had a winner.

* * *

In O'Neill's class, Mack, Daria & Jane were entertained by their teacher's attempts at getting Brittany's opinion on the novel Walden.

When he entered his crying fit, they tuned him out and turned to more important matters.

"So I heard that the Fashion Club is planning to hit Alternapalooza." Jane offered up as bloody red beef.

If Mack and Daria had been drinking, there would have been spit-takes.

"What?!"

"I overheard them talking near my locker," Jane replied with a shrug, "Quinn found a flyer at your place and they decided to try the 'alternative scene'."

"Are they going to try and bum a ride?" Mack asked, ever practical.

"Didn't get that vibe," Jane answered, "Sandi has her own car, remember?"

Daria looked confused, so Mack informed her that Sandi was their age, she had been held back in Kindergarten when she missed eight months due to pneumonia.

"Oh." Daria replied flatly, not having even suspected that of Sandi Griffin at all.

"And what of our own plans…?" Jane began to ask before a squeaky voice interrupted.

"Are you guys talking about Alternapalooza?" Brittany asked, turning her happy blond head towards them.

"Yes." Daria answered as politely as she could.

Considering that they had been interrupted.

"Cool! My Kevy is taking me, cus he and Robert want 'rock out' or something like that." Brittany said obliviously while twirling a piece of her hair with a finger.

Jane smirked at her friends, "Even at a rock concert, you two just can't escape Kevin, can you?"

It was Daria who replied with, "Neither can you Miss Lane, this time anyways."

Mack smirked as Jane put two and two together and came up with…

"Dammit!"

* * *

A few minutes after this, in a conference room decorated in 'chic modern business' design, the exhausted looking Michele and Andrew Landon were with their now three man strong legal team.

All three of whom were doing everything in their power to show no fear at the two people sitting across from them.

One was a woman in a red power suit who was looking right back at them all like a meal she wished to consume very slowly, so they could suffer as long as possible.

The man on the other hand was as cool as a cucumber, and smiling.

Jim Vitale leaned back in his chair with an impressive creak.

"Shall we get started?" Jim asked nicely.

One of the Landon's lawyers nearly pissed himself.

* * *

After the night of their first official date, Mack's confession about wanting to play football again on his own terms had been percolating in the back of Daria's mind.

In principle, the very concept of sports bored her to tears.

But knowing that Mack did have an interest in getting back out there, if for no other reason than to do it for personal enjoyment however…

So Daria found herself doing something that truly sickened her.

When the time came for Girl's Gym, Daria braved dealing with the bitch that was Coach Morris and asked when the best time to talk to Coach Gibson would be.

"Why do you want to know Ms. Morgendorffer?" Morris asked with a hostile gleam.

Daria suppressed a sigh, "I know how to get Mack back on the Lions."

Morris froze and made the calculations, she wasn't the football coach but having a successful football team was always key to keeping any High School's sports budget full of cash.

"And even that half-wit Thompson knows that Mackenzie is the one keeping the team afloat from behind the scenes." Morris's inner voice reminded her.

So she replied, "I'll take you to him myself after class."

Daria nodded, keeping the cringe she was feeling to herself.

* * *

In Gibson's office, Daria found herself staring at the long over-the-hill man with her best poker face, Morris was flanking her like a truant officer that had busted her at the arcade.

Daria dumbed down what she wanted to say with, "If you want Mack on the team, Ms. Li has to go."

When their hackles began to rise she added very quickly, "Without harming yourselves of course. Think you can manage it?"

Gibson thought it over, and for him that took a little bit, but a piggish gleam entered his eyes and he answered, "Yeah… Yeah I think we can."

Daria accepted that with grace, and wondered how many showers it would take to get rid of the dirty feeling she had from all this.

"The things I do for you Mack Daddy." Daria mused once all was said and done.

She did take comfort from knowing that Li's days were numbered.

And that was about it.


	17. XVII

**Mack the Esteemer (XVII)**

In the bowels of a cheap motel room, Jodie was sitting cross-legged on a bed quietly, reading a cheap paperback romance she had nicked from a nearby bodega.

It was better than nothing.

Instead of letting her come back home after being checked out of the hospital, her parents in their 'wisdom' had decided to stuff her into a motel until Uncle Zack could arrive to pick her up the next day.

It sucked but… It was what it was.

Especially with the latest mess her parents had gotten themselves into.

"Heh," Jodie laughed out loud, "When I told Rachel she'd have to fight for her independence, I'd didn't think she'd have to do it so quickly."

After telling her little sister about the whole situation, Jodie had been forced to give her the facts of life when it came to dealing with their parents.

"Linda Mackenzie is right," Jodie had said sadly, "They don't love us, we are just objects to be used as part of their social climbing and need to be seen as the 'perfect negro family'."

Jodie had pointed out that by ultimately failing to meet that standard, their Mom and Dad were effectively throwing her away and clearly about to put all their energy into her and Evan.

"If you want to be your own person, and I strongly recommend that you do. You are going to have to fight for it, tooth and nail."

It had been heartbreaking to have to say all of that, but it had to be done.

"But it obviously helped." Jodie noted as she reached the smutty parts of the book.

A plainclothes cop had showed up at her motel door earlier that morning to give her the news, and that her little sister and brother were already on their way to Baltimore to live with their Grandma Landon.

Jodie wished that they hadn't been split up, but Uncle Zack wasn't made out of money.

Unlike her father, who seemed to have developed a knack for losing it recently.

She was already planning on finding some sort of part time job, after school of course, to help cover some of the expenses.

"It's the least I can do for him." Jodie reminded herself once the smutty parts ended.

She glanced out of the window and realized that it was nighttime and decided to turn in for some sleep.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day after all.

* * *

The next day at Lawndale saw Mack driving to school with Daria and Jane as his first passengers in his Durango.

While this wasn't as sensational as seeing Daria in her red Infiniti, Mack did get a lot positive feedback.

Especially from the other guys.

"I think the school likes your choice." Jane commented at the retreating figures of a couple complementary freshman guys she didn't know.

"Cool," Mack said with a shrug, "But I didn't get it for them."

"If you had, then I would be required to ask who you are and what you had done with Mack Mackenzie." Daria teased.

Mack grinned and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

Jane smirked as her friend turned an interesting shade of embarrassed.

But she spared Daria a verbal barb and asked if they had any interesting hijinks planned for the day.

"So I can prepare for the anarchy in advance." Jane said with glee.

Mack just laughed as Daria tried to get a grip on herself.

"Other than working on the diorama in Science, nothing major on the horizon… Why?" Mack asked the last with a raised eyebrow.

Jane shrugged, "Never hurts to ask."

* * *

True to their word, Science was dedicated, along with the rest of the class to working on their dioramas.

But since the current subject was a crude picture of a mouse and a wedge of cheese, Ms. Butterbean was called on to expand the topic a bit.

So her students could, you know. Do the assignment.

To which she shrugged and said, "As long as it demonstrates the mouse and looks cool I'll give it at least a B."

"Cool!" Kevin cheered before he and Brittany worked on their project by making out.

Mack just shrugged before turning to Daria and saying, "I know I've learned something, I'm just not sure what it is."

"That laziness is a double-edged sword?"

Mack looked at their science teacher, already passed out on her desk.

"She's better than Barch." He said in her defense.

"Then I'm glad I never met her." Daria said sincerely.

* * *

They knew that things would be going downhill the instant Mr. O'Neill was interrupted by the PA System of Doom.

"Attention students of Laaaawwwnnnndaaallleeee Hiiiigggghhhh, this is your Principal!"

"Is this what the Son of Sam heard before he had to kill all of those people?" Jane asked.

"Due to recent… Financial setbacks. The school will be hosting a fundraiser…"

"We're screwed." Mack mumbled.

"By the creation of a new student coffee shop. The grand opening of which will be funded by the generous sales of various products by… _volunteers_ from the student body."

"How's she going to get volunteers?" Daria began to ask before the answer came to her, and Li confirmed it.

"Failure to volunteer will result in _voluntary suspension_. So sell! Sell! Sell! And join us at the grand opening of Café Lawndale, where you will be entertained by various to-be-announced acts from your fellow students while sipping your joe! Have a nice day…"

"Isn't this great?!" Mr. O'Neill crowed happily, reeking of happiness and creepiness .

"No." Jane offered.

O'Neill ignored her and began to rant about how this would bring people together.

Then the true horror was unleashed.

"And I'm looking forward to seeing what each of you will be doing for the new coffee shop. _Especially my talented writers_."

Daria felt her stomach drop and realized that he was looking right at her as he said that.

"I'd like to register as a conscientious objector," she said quickly, "On the basis that my writing isn't fit for public consumption."

"Or by the uninitiated." Jane added in a faux-mystical voice, and waved her hands around as if she was performing a spell.

O'Neill just took this as stage fright and began to issue prattle about confidence building.

Which had Daria wondering if he even had a connection with the planet Earth, or if he really did live in his own fantasy world all the time.

"Signs point to… yes." Daria's inner voice whispered to her.

As long as her parents, namely her mother, didn't get wind of any of this she was in the clear.

Thankfully O'Neill ran out of steam and returned to his excuse for a lesson plan.

"Ms. Li can't get fired fast enough." Daria muttered to herself.

"Huh?" Mack grunted, having heard that.

"Oh, nothing." Daria said lamely.

Mack just nodded and decided to ask her about it later.

* * *

In DeMartino's class, Quinn found herself chatting with Tori and Sandi, the only two Fashion Club members who shared that particular class with her.

"So should we sell stuff or do some sort of performance?" Quinn asked, trying to gauge what Sandi was thinking.

Sandi thought for a minute before saying, "Sell, since this whole thing is much to, like, short notice for us to put our various talents together for something like a performance."

Quinn and Tori both agreed with her.

"But I, like, wonder how in the hell Ms. Li can get away with forcing people to volunteer with the threat of suspension?" Sandi mused to herself.

Quinn decided to ask Daria when she got the chance.

"Cus this has to be against some sort of law." Quinn thought to herself.

Tori then pulled out her copy of the latest issue of Alterna-Fashions and they became heavily involved in discussing what to wear for their little upcoming safari into the Alternative music scene.

Somewhere along the way, Quinn forgot about talking to Daria.

* * *

During lunch, Mack and Daria took full advantage of time away from class to sneak up to the school's roof.

While other students would be going there purely to make out, for Mack and Daria the benefit of the quiet was not to be overlooked.

Before they were in the mood for the usual teenage shenanigans, Mack found himself asking.

"So I heard you muttering something about wanting Li fired faster?"

Daria chuckled very slightly, "You heard that? Well, I was hoping to make it a surprise, but… well…"

She tapered off, worried about his response, nerves started to grip her voice box and paralyze it.

Mack made a go-on gesture.

Daria took a deep breath and cleared her throat before plunging forward with.

"I talked to the Coaches and let them know that you'd be willing to play, if Li got the ax."

Mack's eyes widened in surprise and he stood as still as a statue for a whole minute.

Then he began to laugh, quiet at first but it very quickly grew into a big deep throated laugh that could shake a building.

"Oh that's rich!" Mack wheezed while clutching his stomach, "We've got Li's pets now going for her jugular."

Daria barely managed to swallow her own giggles of relief, but she did shake with silent ones for about as long as Mack laughed as well.

Then he suddenly stopped and kissed her deeply.

All of a sudden, Daria found herself quite limp in his arms, her cotton shirt and the bra beneath the only barrier between her and his very muscular chest, barely covered by an old black shirt.

While even now there was a part of her that was afraid, afraid that somehow all of this would come crashing down and she'd wind up being hurt.

That part was becoming smaller and smaller by the day.

The part of her that wanted to keep going, to explore, to push her boundaries however was growing stronger and stronger.

Constrained only by her shrinking fears, and reason of course.


	18. XVIII

**Mack the Esteemer (XVIII)**

Sitting at the dinner table in Schloss Morgendorffer, Daria looked as calm and collected as ever, without a hint of her extracurricular activities with Mack a little while ago.

"At least they got something other than frozen lasagna." Daria thought to herself as she took another bite of her takeout Chinese.

Quinn was doing her usual routine of babbling about her day while their mother made affirmative noises, only half paying attention.

"…And then Ms. Li came onto the announcements saying that we all have to volunteer our time to get some coffee shack going, otherwise we'll all be suspended."

Just as Daria began to get very irritated with her sister for not knowing when to shut up, Helen gasped.

"What?!"

"I know!" Quinn whined, "And we're all going to go to that new Mall, the Mall of the Millennium…"

"No not that," Helen said dismissively, "What was this about being suspended for not volunteering?"

Quinn started to get confused and began to stammer.

Daria sighed and explained, and by the end she felt like slapping her forehead.

"How the hell did I not see how illegal this was before?" Daria asked aloud.

Helen was more sympathy.

"Daria," she said kindly, "Don't let it get you down, the important thing is that we've caught it and I think that, with a little physical evidence we'll have the final nail for Li's coffin."

"Physical evidence?" Quinn, Daria, and oddly enough Jake asked.

Helen's smile was scary, "Yes, we'll need to present actual proof that you were forced to volunteer, statements from some students can be taken about the announcement. But for the project itself."

Daria got ready to wince.

"You both will have to do something for the Café." Helen said like a judge passing sentence.

Quinn started to complain but was cut off by a glare from Helen.

"No buts Quinn."

Quinn sighed and admitted that the Fashion Club would be selling things door to door the next day.

"That's perfect," Helen cooed, "Take a video camera with you and film it, that'll serve as proof."

Daria saw a chance to slip away from this.

However Helen caught her just as she rose from the table.

"And Daria? You should do something for the Café, work as a volunteer server or something."

Daria winced, "Check and mate." she sighed.

It was Quinn's turn to be helpful, for once.

"Oooh!" she said as she remembered something, "I heard that O'Neill is looking for people to do stuff during an open mic on opening night."

Daria suppressed a growl and said, "Fine, I'll read a story or something."

"That's the spirit!" Jake cheered over his newspaper, unhelpfully.

"Have your friend Jane record it." Helen added as Daria stalked off, needing to call Mack and get some comforting words from her man.

She did think for a moment about telling her mother about the scheme with the coaches but dismissed it out of hand.

* * *

In Ms. Bennett's room, a filing cabinet was sitting inconspicuously where it had for a little under a decade.

Seemingly untouched since the last time that Bennett had opened it.

However a more discerning eye could see scratch marks on the keyhole to the top drawer.

And someone familiar with the contents of said cabinet would find that several files were missing.

* * *

Through the window of Zack Landon's Jeep, Jodie Landon felt the wind blowing through her hair as she leaned out of the window, watching the sign saying, 'Leaving Lawndale' pass her by.

Driving the vehicle was a dark skinned man with a weathered face, oil stained hands, dirty fingernails, an old work shirt and pants, and motorcycle boots.

"You ok kiddo?" the figure asked, looking concerned at his now abandoned niece.

"I'm fine," Jodie reassured him without looking away from the passing scenery.

It was going to be a little while before they reached Swedesville, but Jodie didn't mind a bit.

With every mile she was leaving Lawndale behind, hopefully forever.

"Especially with my parents desperate to make all of the madness go away." She thought ruefully with the image of all her possessions now in the back of the Jeep and tied down.

Anyone with half a wit could see that her 'temporary stay' was going to be permanent just by everything she was taking alone.

To her left, Zack Landon was hoping that the freshly cleared out guest bedroom would be good enough for his niece.

"This is going to be a big comedown from how she used to live." He thought with a wince.

After all having spent a good chunk of his life as a biker, and now the owner of a biker bar in town meant that he wasn't in his pissant brother's league.

He glanced at Jodie and noticed that she had the most beautiful smile on her face and wondered how she could be so happy under these circumstances.

"She's a good kid," Zack thought to himself, "It's just that my pencil dicked brother and his bitch wife can't see it."

Zack then put the two honorless bastards out of his thoughts and instead put his eyes on the road, wishing that he could be on his hog during a day like this.

But duty called, and besides if the weather held he could take Jodie out and show her the ropes.

Just like he had always wanted.

* * *

School came and went and since Daria wasn't stuck selling junk to people door-to-door, she was making more constructive use of her time.

"My god, look at this place." Mack said in disgust as he, Daria, Jane, and all of Mystik Spiral entered the new mega store, PayDay.

"Yeah, pretty cool, huh?" Trent drawled, not catching the contempt in Mack's voice at this crass temple of consumerism.

Jane just shook her head and went to grab a cart that didn't resemble a train trolley.

"Well the hunt for stuff should serve as a useful distraction." Daria began to say before Max and Nick began to enter a heated discussion about which rock star had a better suicide.

"It's Cobain man!" Nick hissed eve as Jesse moved between him and Max to serve as a barrier.

"No, Morrison, cus he was in the Lizard King!" Max whined.

Daria wondered where the Tylenol was, then Mack pulled her away a bit and kissed her cheek.

The budding headache went away.

"I had a feeling you needed that." Mack said at her blush, "But what was this I heard about you actually reading one of your stories for open mic night?"

Daria began to ask how he found out about that.

Mack just shushed her and said, "This is Lawndale, and I was waiting for you outside the door, remember?"

Daria laughed at her forgetfulness and replied, "True on both accounts, my Mom's convinced that with some physical evidence of being compelled by the school to do this, it will serve as the last straw for Li getting fired."

Mack smirked, "Cool, but I thought you were having the Coaches destroy her?"

Daria just gave an evil grin, "I'm doubling down on the destruction, you know like any good cartoon villain."

"You'd look terrible with a mustache though." Mack informed her while checking to make sure that they were still following the group.

He didn't want to get lost in a store this big.

Daria made a show of rubbing her upper lip, "I dunno… I could use something to play with."

Mack thought of several dirty jokes but didn't say them aloud.

It didn't take Daria more than a minute to catch on to what she had just said and turned beet red.

Mack just pulled her into a big hug and whispered, "Listen Dee Dee, joking aside I know you said you're not ready for that sort of thing yet so don't worry about it. No pressure from me on that front."

Daria relaxed in his grip, relishing his body heat as she replied, "Thank you."

Mack just squeezed her tighter, and hoped that she hadn't noticed that the other Mack had come out to play.

She did notice, but after a single moment of emotional paralysis had forced herself to relax again and try to ignore it.

So she said into his chest, "I think I know why you get called Mack Daddy."

Mack laughed and Daria had to give up on ignoring the obvious.

However they were forced to break it up and catch back up with the group, they had supplies for a road trip to get.

There was just one more bed of hot coals to walk through though.

Ms. Li's ill-conceived Coffee Shop.

* * *

When Quinn had explained to Sandi and the other girls in the Fashion Club why she was going to videotape their selling excursion, they had all shared a laugh.

"That'll teach Ms. Li for forcing popular girls to do manual labor!" Tori said with a shudder.

"I agree with you," Sandi added to the newest member with a nod to the first house on their list, "But for now we have to sell… What are we selling again Stacy?"

Stacy jumped at being called out and grabbed the list, "We can sell magazine subscriptions, phone cards, and chocolate."

"Chocolate!" their new prospect, Brooke said dramatically, "But that'll give everyone in town zits!"

"Ewwww!" All of then squealed at the mere notion of a disaster like that.

Sandi composed herself first and said, "It's for a good cause, getting Li fired. Now let's do this!"

The group of six then walked down the sidewalk, Stacy pulling a little red wagon with bags of things to sell on behalf of Lawndale High.

All of the houses looked similar and Quinn was reminded of those horror movies Daria liked to watch.

"This is where serial killers like to show up and stuff." Quinn thought to herself with a shudder.

They reached the first house and Sandi rang the bell, then from the other side came a strange wheezing sound.

Quinn's dread began to grow and she slowly edged herself towards the outer end of the group, glad she was wearing her new tennis shoes and not those strappy sandals.

Since it would help her escape.

"I don't have to outrun the killer," Quinn thought very coldly, "I just have to outrun everyone else."

A worse horror awaited her instead.

The door opened to reveal a massive whale of a woman with greasy hair and skin, wearing ugly house slippers and a muumuu!

"Hey!" the woman wheezed, her jowls jiggling "Are you selling chocolate?"

While the other girls stared in horror at this ruin of a person, Sandi took a deep breath and said very carefully that yes, they were.

"I'll take the lot." The woman wheezed.

The Fashion Club didn't bother going to any other houses that day, but Li didn't complain since they sold over six hundred dollars' worth of chocolate.


	19. XIX

**Mack the Esteemer (XIX)**

After dropping of the supplies, and Mystik Spiral at Casa Lane it was with great relief that Daria followed Mack back to Glen Oaks Lane.

Now the two of them were crashed on the Mackenzie's living room couch, the TV on as background noise.

"Are you sure that you want to make something original?" Mack asked as he flipped the station from a news program to an old episode of Charlie's Angels.

"Yeah I'm sure," Daria reassured him with a grimace at what was on the tube, "I don't think I can get away with reading my 'Kill Quinn' revenge fic, or the one where I compare our classmates to barnyard animals."

Mack chuckled, "I'd like to read that one sometime."

Daria blushed a little and admitted, "You make an appearance in it. As a black stallion."

"Do I get to kick the farmer in the teeth?" Mack asked with a shrug, taking it as his due.

"…How did I not think of that?" Daria replied after thinking it through.

Mack just grinned before flipping the channel to one playing a Wings rerun.

They both grimaced and changed it again, Monster trucks were now smashing cars.

It was slightly more tolerable.

"Well you could do a story where Kevin falls down a manhole and discovers Narnia or something." Mack offered up.

"Can't," Daria answered back, "I'd be obliged to have the Jesus Allegory Lion help him return to Earth at some point."

"Damn." Mack replied as he changed the channel again and found a movie channel playing _GoldenEye_.

Mack fell into a silence as he tried to come up with ideas for DeeDee to use, but he wasn't sure what she would like.

"Well you haven't had a chance to read her stories yet bub." Mack's inner voice whispered.

Then just as he was about to ask if she wanted something to drink, Daria suddenly said, "You know… I think Mister Bond has given me an idea."

She then leaned over the armrest for her book bag and yanked out a notebook and began to scribble down something very quickly.

As he watched her at work, Mack was reminded of seeing Jane during one of her creative bursts and thought to himself that whatever was going to emerge from this was bound to be good.

* * *

"Well it was a little short," Helen said to Quinn as they finished watching the video of the Fashion Club's excursion into door-to-door sales, "But it's proof."

"Great!" Quinn chirped as she got up very quickly, "Well gotta go, Fashion Club meeting and all."

Helen just said, "Bye!" and pulled the tape out of the VCR and slipped it into her purse.

This was a bit fortuitous as Jake was coming in just as Quinn was leaving and smiled, "Hi honey."

"Oh, hi Jakey," Helen replied as he came over and gave her a kiss and a hug, "How was work?"

"Fantastic!" Jake answered happily, "My client base has been booming in the last few days, apparently George has been putting the word out."

"George?" Helen asked before she remembered, "Oh that's right, George Mackenzie! …Wait, how do you know him?"

Jake just laughed, "I met him at the golf course, he's a nice guy."

"Hmm," Helen mused, "You know we really should get together with the Mackenzie's sometime, you know for a nice dinner or something."

"That's a great idea!" Jake cheered as he sat down on the couch and grabbed the remote, and then he seemed confused and asked, "Uh… Are you sure this is a good idea? I don't want something to happen that'll make us look bad."

Helen just laughed that off, "Oh don't worry Jakey, everything will work out just fine. We just need to plan everything out is all."

Jake just replied, "A-Okay!"

He then switched on the tube and flipped to the news so he could catch the sports highlights.

However they were playing the local events at the moment.

"…The firefighters on the scene were forced to cut a hole in the side of Johanseen's house and a group of five men had to carry her out."

Helen glanced at the screen and saw a flash of muumuu and a fat woman and did a double take.

"No way!" Helen hissed to herself.

Jake looked up at her confused, then back at the TV screen.

"Mrs. Johanseen was rushed to the hospital in critical condition due to her diabetic reaction but is currently expected to make a full recovery."

Jake then changed the channel, trying to find a station that was talking about last night's game.

Helen just clicked her tongue and glanced at her purse and decided to smash the tape into pulp.

"Daria, I'm relying on you now." She thought to herself as she stepped out of the room and headed to the garage where a big hammer was waiting with her name on it.

About a minute later Jake heard a breaking sound and jumped off of the couch in a blind panic and nearly tripped on the coffee table.

"Goddammit!" He yelled as he hopped around, clutching his foot.

He forgot about the sound after that.

* * *

The next day saw Daria and Mack back in Ms. Butterbean's excuse for a science class, as the students presented their diorama's.

Daria noted that unlike most classes in which a presentation involved actual presenting, Ms. Butterbean was of the school of 'if it's complete then I'll toss out a random grade'.

"Guess we shouldn't have bothered putting in so much effort." Daria noted dryly as Butterbean walked past, she had taken a cursory glance at their carefully constructed life sized stuffed mouse on a wheel trying to get a piece of cheese dangling in front of him on a string.

Then had said, "A." and walked on without any commentary.

"At least it's better than what Kevin and Brittany came up with." Mack said dryly.

Daria raised an eyebrow at that, since the Duo of Stupid hadn't done anything at all.

Except apparently did unnatural acts on top of the now smashed box, having forgotten to do the actual assignment.

Butterbean just sighed at the two of them, then shrugged and said, "Well Li would just change the F into A's anyway, so you two get a B+ each."

"Awright!" Kevin yelled and fist pumped the air.

Brittany was all smiles as she then pulled Kevin towards her and dragged him onto their table and smashed the box some more.

Butterbean just made a face before walking away.

Daria facepalmed.

* * *

Ms. Li grinned as she finished stuffing the proceeds from the door-to-door sales into a large manila envelope, having counted it all out herself.

"Now we just need the moolah from the coffee shop to start flowing in and we can still get that Surface-to-Air missile system!" Li crowed with a grin that reek of paranoia and greed.

Then the phone rang.

"What now!" she yelled just before she picked up the receiver.

"Hello? Oh! Mr. Cartwright, how are you doing?"

A couple minutes in, Angela found herself having to answer questions as to why a lawyer representing a 'Mrs. Johanseen' had come to call.

Li was very thankful that LHS wasn't liable for what was done with the products sold after they were purchased, and that they were under no obligation to ensure that the people being sold to were healthy enough to eat six hundred dollars' worth of chocolate safely.

"Otherwise you'd be out of a job!" the Superintendent hissed at her coldly before hanging up the phone.

Li then spent five minutes panting in fear, hoping to God that the coffee shop would go off without a hitch.

* * *

Once the day was over, there was a lull of about three hours that would last between getting back home and needing to head on out to 'Café Lawndale'.

So Daria found herself pulling up in her new de facto parking space back home, she saw Mack flying by in his Durango and knew he'd be by in a couple minutes.

Next to her Jane spoke up, "So Daria, what's the big story that you've cooked up?"

"It's a surprise." Daria replied as she got out of the car, Jane quickly following in her wake.

By the time Daria reached the door, Mack was running up to them, having parked his car at his house and clearly hustled to get there so quickly.

He greeted her with a small kiss, and the pair ignored Jane's evil grin as best they could.

"So, ready to risk being interrogated by my mother just to hang out with me before show time?" Daria asked with fake indifference.

"I'll have to run that gauntlet sooner or later." Mack replied plainly, "Might as well risk it."

"You are a brave man." Daria said as she opened the door and let them inside.

It didn't take long to get some snacks and soda together and the three of them crashed on the couch and caught the start of the latest episode of Sick, Sad World.

A model was selling her version of an encyclopedia, which apparently was designed to contain as little information as humanely possible and still be an encyclopedia.

"Whenever I feel hope for the human condition, SSW always ensures that it's smashed into pulp." Jane commented.

"Just as it should be." Daria added.

Mack grinned even as he leaned on Daria and whispered, "Here's to getting your hopes up."

That made Daria silently chuckle briefly.

Then the door opened and Helen entered the house, yammering on her cellphone with her briefcase brandished like a weapon.

"Well, Ian I agree, no I know that Stephanie isn't the most reliable of interns but… Well maybe… Well I just got in, listen can we pick this up tomorrow? Really?! Great! Well see you tomorrow."

Helen hung up her cellphone and plopped down in Jake's favorite easy chair and wheezed, "Phew! Another grueling day, but it could have been worse."

"Yeah," Daria added from the background, "You could be dealing with Eric."

"Oh god!" Helen said loudly, "Don't even say that Daria! That man was turning into a stalker."

Then Helen seemed to realize who she was talking too and exclaimed, "Daria! I'm glad that you're here. I wanted to talk to you about the negotiations with the Landons."

Daria winced and Mack put a comforting arm around her, on the other side Jane gave her hand a squeeze.

Helen picked on this but pressed on, "Well it took a bit longer than expected but we managed to hammer out everything this afternoon, the remaining details will be worked out tomorrow but…"

She then grabbed her omnipresent briefcase and fiddled around, looking for paperwork before pulling out a sheet and saying, "Now this isn't final, but it's unlikely to change all that much."

Helen then paused and added, "Now the money will be placed in a trust and no one will be able to touch it until you turn eighteen. Which considering the amount…"

She then rose and slipped Daria the document and pointed at the right line, and hoped that Mack and Jane were as trustworthy as Daria seemed to consider them to be.

Three teenagers whistled at what they saw.

"Whoa, Daria!"

"Damn!"

Daria however was silent for a long minute before saying, "Well, if my writing career doesn't pan out at least I can sit on my butt for a few decades before needing to do anything constructive."

"Daria…" Helen began to sigh before realizing that her daughter was just joking.

Helen then added, "Oh, well now the amount from the settlement won't be made public, but you know how these things go. Plus Landon Enterprises has already taken a dip in its stock price due to the scandal, it'll take a much bigger blow after this."

"It has?" Daria asked in confusion.

Mack however nodded, "Yeah, my Dad follows the stock market and that's what he said this morning."

Helen then smiled a certain kind of smile that had Daria instantly wondering what was up.

"Oh by the way Mack," Helen said casually, "Jake and I were wondering if it would be possible if our two families could have a nice dinner together sometime soon, you know get to know each other."

"Sure I guess," Mack replied politely, "I'll pass the word on."

"Great!" Helen answered nicely, "Well I'll leave you three alone for now."

As soon as her mother was out of the room, Daria looked Mack right in the eye and said, "I apologize in advance for anything stupid, unintentionally rude, or just plain embarrassing that happens because of this."

Mack just laughed, "Cool, and the same from me."

Daria just shook her head, "Trust me Mack Daddy, your parents are not in my parents league. And thank god for that."

"At least you have parents that are there to embarrass you." Jane thought sadly before shoving that aside.

Instead she glanced at the clock and reminded them of the time and what they still had to put up with.

Daria nodded and got up and went to a small movie cabinet and pulled out a camcorder and tossed it to Jane.

"Mom wants us to record the 'recital' for evidence." Daria explained.

"Cool…" Jane drawled as she started to familiarize herself with her new toy.

Mack was tempted to ask what Daria had in store but decided not to.

He wanted to be surprised.


	20. XX

**Mack the Esteemer (XX)**

"So students and fellow non-student patrons," O'Neill said nervously into the microphone on the small stage, "Welcome to Café Lawndale!"

Daria could swear that she heard crickets chirping.

Timothy O'Neill then laughed nervously before introducing the first act of the night, a middle-aged guy with a flabby belly and bigger boobs than Brittany.

Playing an accordion, badly.

Daria was very thankful that they only had to endure three and a half minutes of this before one of the football players became annoyed enough to chuck his half empty coffee mug at the stage, hitting the wall behind the fat man who screeched and stopped in mid-note before glaring at everyone in the room and storming off in a huff.

Daria leaned back in her chair at the small table that she was sharing with Mack and Jane, the room was full of little tables like theirs and it was a full house.

"Apparently there really isn't anything better to do in Lawndale." Daria muttered once more.

"Relax DeeDee," Jane teased, "If nothing else we'll be able to snark about this forever, thanks to the magic of audio/visual recording."

Daria glanced at the electronic device currently in Jane's hands. It hadn't taken her red-coated friend long to figure out how to use her new toy.

"Plus the night is young," Mack added as they watched a scruffy looking punk take the stage with a guitar in his hands, "Who knows what will happen next?"

The guy plugged his instrument into an amp and began to bang away and wail in what he must have thought was a talented guttural roar.

"Can't stand your lips / Can't stand your eyes / Can't stand your teeth…"

"What if we can't stand your voice?" Daria said before sipping on her late-night joe.

While Mack and Jane laughed the guy went on with, "Can't stand your thighs / That's why I loathe... you..."

Then he stopped in mid-verse before gritting his own teeth and began to smash his beaten up guitar on the ground and screamed, "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

O'Neill tried to bum rush the stage and fell flat on his ass for his trouble, the punk continued to curse and beat the innocent floor until he ran out of steam and walked off in the second huff of the night.

The audience was less than impressed with the entertainment.

Then when Mack glanced at the 'bar' area with the temptation to get a refill he spotted someone he hadn't expected to see. The person in question was a teenager in very non-descript clothes, but he had a nice face with brown hair and sea-green eyes, and was currently chatting with the barista.

"Hey," Mack thought to himself, "What's Tom Sloane doing here?"

Tom turned his head by chance and noticed Mack looking at him and gave a wave, Mack nodded and seemed to think for a minute before waving the kid over.

Daria noticed this and asked, "Ok, who's that?"

"Oh that's Tom Sloane," Mack answered as the kid approached with his coffee in hand, "He's Angier's kid, he's pretty cool."

He would have said more, but Tom reached them before he could.

"Hey Michael." Tom said with a polite smile.

Mack laughed, "You can call me Mack, Tom."

Tom shrugged, "Yeah, but Michael sounds more pretentious and old-world. It'll make my parents randomly proud and they'll never understand why."

Mack laughed and asked him to have a seat.

Tom sat down next to Jane and looked at Daria for a minute before saying, "I know Mack and Jane, but I don't know you."

"You wouldn't." Daria replied nonchalantly, "We've never met."

"Touché."

Mack grinned, "This is my girlfriend Daria, Daria this is Tom Sloane."

With the introductions out of the way, Mack asked, "So Tom, what brings you here among the plebs?"

Tom chuckled, "Just taking in the local color… And I was going stir crazy without much in the way of decent human contact."

"I hear that." Mack replied as he looked at the stage and saw that Kevin and Brittany were setting things up for some sort of performance.

Daria saw what book Brittany was hold and moaned, "Oh God! They're doing a Romeo/Juliet reading."

"Is that bad?" Tom asked quietly as the Duo of Dumb finished getting their props ready.

Jane grinned from behind her camera, "That's Kevin and Brittany, the ones we told you about."

Tom winced, "I hope they don't mangle this, I'd hate to be ruined on the Bard forever."

"Get ready to hate." Daria commented just as Brittany began to read aloud from her paperback copy of Romeo and Juliet.

* * *

From the sidelines O'Neill sighed as Brittany and Kevin got into an argument about the skull that Kevin had brought with him.

"Oh Kevin," O'Neill thought aloud, "The skull is Hamlet, not Romeo and Juliet."

He then began to wonder if it had been a good idea to have opening night also involve an open stage, maybe vetting the acts beforehand would have been better.

"No," O'Neill told himself, "That would be judgmental, and judgmentalism is always wrong."

"Mr. O'Neill," the flat cold voice of one of his students said, cutting into his train of thought, "It's my turn."

"Oh, ok Hayley." O'Neill said dismissively, shooing her onto the stage.

"It's Andrea." The fat Goth girl growled darkly even as she stomped up the stairs to the microphone.

Without bothering with an introduction, Andrea said very robotically, "I'm here. But where are you? Sure, I see your body, sucking down you're overpriced brown water. But is anybody home in that rotting bag of flesh?"

Then she walked off stage, ignoring the silent, confused stares of the morons that made up the audience.

Though Andrea did smile a little with her back turned when she heard four people clap politely and once she was out of sight checked to see who it was.

"You are a girl of surprises Daria Morgendorffer," Andrea thought to herself as O'Neill announced the next act, some slutty lounge singer, "Keep it up."

If it hadn't been for Daria stirring things up, Andrea was certain that Lawndale would be even more boring than usual.

* * *

"God that woman is awful," Mack moaned while covering his ears.

"No vocal coaching can fix that mess." Jane added, filming away.

The blond woman in the clichéd red dress warbled on about 'Always loving you' and confirmed that only Whitney Houston should sing that song.

However even torture has to end sooner or later and the woman drank in the applause as she bowed, not realizing that people were relieved that she was done.

Daria recalled the marquee and sighed, her turn was now up, even as Mr. O'Neill began to approach the microphone.

He then thanked the lounge singer and Andrea for being willing to expose their raw emotions and had the spotlight shined on Andrea at her lonely table, she was forced to quickly hide some sort of bottle from view.

"So what did you write Daria?" Jane asked from behind the camera as her friend rose with loose sheafs of paper in her hand.

"Something I hammered out on a caffeine bender last night." Daria said quietly as she walked away.

As O'Neill introduced her, Daria gave her friends at their table one last glance, Jane gave her a thumbs up sign and Mack gave her a supportive grin.

Tom was watching with interest, but also sparing a few glances at Andrea as well.

Daria smirked and began to speak into the microphone, "Hello fellow patrons, tonight I'd like to read a story titled 'Where the Future Takes Us'."

As she started her story it didn't take long to get people interested, and even Daria found herself being swept away by her own words…

* * *

Angela Li was fast asleep in her spacious bedroom in her McMansion home a few blocks away from the Crewe Neck.

In her slumber Li mumbled, "Ooohhh Bob Dole, use the paddle on me… oohhhh yeahhhh…"

Then the phone rang, and rang, breaking Li away from her disturbing dreamland.

"Wha-?!"

Li fumbled for her glasses, her bedside lamp and then the phone itself.

"Hello?" She said groggily into the receiver.

"Angela!" The Angry voice of the Superintendent cut through her zombie state.

"Sir!" Li exclaimed in surprise, "What can I do for you."

"Well…" Superintendent Cartwright growled from the other end, "Considering the latest at this point you can clean out your desk."

"WHAT?!" Li screamed in shock.

"That fucking coffee house is currently the scene of a goddamn riot!" Cartwright yelled, "The police and firefighting crews are currently putting Lawndale's football players in the drunk tank since they decided to sack the Russian Embassy."

"But-but-but!" Li stammered, "There isn't an embassy in town!"

"It doesn't matter." Cartwright answered flatly even as her doorbell rang in the distance, "Even without the riot, you'd have been fired anyway."

"What?!" Li moaned, ignoring her doorbell.

She could feel Cartwright's smile, "I was sent something interesting from an anonymous source…"

There was a loud pounding that echoed through her house.

Cartwright laughed, "And I must say that I honestly can't believe that you thought you could get away with this shit forever."

Li moaned out faintly, "Noooo…."

Outside her bedroom window Li could see flashing red and blue lights, and someone yelled, "Angela Li, this is the Lawndale Police Department, we have a warrant for arrest."

Cartwright laughed darkly, "But I guess you already know all about it. Well enjoy prison, Li."

_Click!_


	21. XXI

**Mack the Esteemer (XXI)**

"I can't believe you got all of it on tape!"

Jane chuckled darkly as Daria played chauffeur, pulling away from Casa Lane for a pit stop at Cluster Burger for breakfast before braving Lawndale High.

From the passenger seat Mack turned to the dark haired girl in the back of Daria's car and said, "I want a copy!"

Jane kept on snickering, "Don't worry Big M. I'm making a beeline for the AV Room first thing, I plan to sell copies of the 'Mocha Nightmare Riots' to our fellow morons. I mean classmates."

"No you were right the first time." Daria commented with a wry grin.

"And did anyone catch the early morning news?" Mack asked with his own shit-eating grin, "Cus I sure did!"

"Why, what happened?" Jane asked.

Then when Daria and Mack both turned to look at her with knowing looks she added, "Ok, now I _really_ want to know."

Daria turned back to the road as the local Cluster Burger came into view, "The Superintendent of the school district was apparently less than pleased with how our Principal was running things recently…"

"Oh, and someone sent him an anonymous tip and proof that Li was doing funny things with the school's budget." Mack added with a laugh as Daria reached the drive-thru and began placing their usual orders.

Jane's jaw began to drop and she began to ask "…Is she?"

"Oh yeah!" Mack drawled, "The local media was invited along to witness her being arrested at her house last night, they played it this morning. Though I'm not sure how they got away with showing her in that…"

He then caught the dark gleam in Daria's eyes and muttered, "Nevermind."

Daria decided to answer Jane's unspoken question by sighing and adding, "Let's just say our Ex-Principal's choice of sleepwear will ensure that I'll never see black latex or tassels the same way ever again."

Jane shuddered and nearly lost her appetite.

* * *

As Daria pulled up in the parking lot at Lawndale High, the remains of breakfast crammed into a bag and a near-future date with the garbage, Jane asked the obvious question.

"Hey, who's in charge of the school now?"

Mack and Daria contemplated this.

Daria then asked, "Does Lawndale High even _have_ a Vice Principal?"

Mack and Jane both shrugged, they hadn't seen any hint of such a person in their time under Li's regime.

Daria sighed, "Then either the Superintendent is here himself, he's already found someone new, or…"

"He promoted one of our teachers." Jane stated flatly in the back.

"I just hope it isn't Manson." Mack offered up.

Daria and Jane shuddered in unison.

"Or Ms. Butterbean."

"Mack, please stop!" Jane begged while covering her ears.

"Or Mr. O'Neill…"

"AAAAAAA!" Daria screamed at the concept.

"Well let's go find out!" Mack chirped with a dark and twisted grin and grabbed his book bag before bounding out of the Infiniti.

"If it's O'Neill then I might rethink my stance on not using firearms." Daria muttered as her soul quivered with dread, her instincts telling her that with her luck this was the most probable outcome.

* * *

The students and teachers of Lawndale High found themselves in the gym facing an impromptu school 'rally', the announcement given out by the unfamiliar voice of Superintendent Cartwright, who was now sitting next to the empty seat where Li usually sat.

The entire student body stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the person at the podium.

"Good MORNing STUdents, as you MIGHT have already GUESSed with what LITTLE BRAIN POWER you POSSESS. I have been place in CHARge of the school for the reMAINDER of the YEAR." Mr, no now _Principal_ DeMartino stated with eyebulge in full effect.

In the back rows, Mack, Daria, and Jane were watching their history teacher in all of his unstable glory as he was reintroduced as their leader in Hell.

Cartwright looked like he was already beginning to regret this staffing choice.

From above them at the top of the bleachers, Andrea said loud enough for the trio to hear, "DeMartino is my new hero."

"He wasn't already?" Jane teased.

"Touché."

Daria glanced at the Goth and found her no worse for wear from the night before and said, "I lost sight of you once the Lions began bum-rushing the doors. Glad you're ok."

Andrea nodded, "That guy with the crap car, Tom, he helped me get out safely. Hell he even took me out for coffee and donuts afterward."

Mack laughed, "Sounds like Tom alright."

Andrea nodded and turned her gaze back to DeMartino.

"…and the RUMors of SHENANigans and CHEATing on the part of… SOME of the players on our SPORTS teams are still UNsubstansiated."

"Mr. D, not even Kevin bought your bad acting." Daria snarked.

"BUT I can state with CONfidence that such BEHAVIOR will NOT be tolerated! _PERIOD!_"

The groans from pretty much every single Jock in Lawndale High shook dust from the ceiling.

DeMartino's evil grin brought pleasure and joy to Daria and Jane's souls.

Mack wiped away an imaginary tear from his eyes.

Daria smirked and leaned over and whispered something to him.

"Huh? _Oh!_ You are right on that one DeeDee." Mack cackled once she was finished.

Jane wondered what that was all about.

But all either of them would say was that she'd find out at the end of the day.

* * *

The Assembly ended and the students of Lawndale were let out, buzzing about the regime change, Li's kinky nighties, Daria's story at the coffee shop, the riot, the pretty blatant assault on the 'proud' school tradition of cutting corners on the student-athletes grades, and wild rumors that DeMartino would various force them into uniforms, turn the school into a military academy, was about to be fired, was going to fire all the teachers and bring in all new staff, and not to mention the stuff that ranged from him planning to kill Kevin, sell him to science for experimentation, or was going to have the kid lobotomized and castrated for the good of the gene pool.

As for the boy himself, he was mercifully oblivious to all of this, though Brittany knew she'd have to get him to remember that the grade-fixing was DOA sooner or later.

A thankless task, if there was none other.

* * *

"Hey?!" Jane found herself asking once she stepped into DeMartino's old room, "Who the hell is teaching history now?"

She glanced and found the room devoid of adults, just her fellow bored classmates.

Jane shrugged and sat down and waited for Mack and Daria to arrive.

But even after they arrived and joined her, no History Substitute was forthcoming.

"So…" Brittany said while twirling her hair once the bell rang and class had officially started, "If there's no teacher, does that mean we have to stay or can we leave? Cus there's a sale at the mall I want to catch."

Daria began to say something snarky, but was cut off by the door opening.

A geriatric old woman stepped in, and gave off the smell of someone that should have retired decades before.

"Hello class," she said while grabbing some chalk and began to write her name on the board, "You may have noticed that I'm not your usual teacher."

"At this point Helen Keller would have noticed." Mack muttered.

"I'm Mrs. Stoller." The sub said to them as if they were little kids.

She then began to take roll call.

It didn't take her long to reach the Snarky Trio.

"And what's your name dearie?" She asked of Daria.

"Daria."

"Hmm, that's sounds like a hippie name…" Mrs. Stoller said with a tisk, tisk.

"Oh don't worry about that!" Kevin spoke up helpfully, "Everyone calls her DeeDee!"

Ms. Stoller, to Daria's horror, smiled.

"I like that." She said, sealing Daria's new identity.

"Cool!" Kevin cheered.

"And what's your name?" She asked of him.

"I'm the QB!"

"Ok then Cubie," Mrs. Stoller said to the football player, "I need you to be quiet now, the teacher is still getting to know the other students."

Jane, Daria, and Mack looked at each other and barely suppressed the snickers.

Stoller was senile enough to think that 'Cubie' was Kevin's actual name, and that this was grade school.

One thing hadn't changed at all, Lawndale High was still finding new levels of twisted to reach.

* * *

"So Daria," Jane said as she sat down on a bleacher near the ground level in Lawndale High's football field, "Is this surprise of yours what I'm thinking it's going to be?"

Daria just shrugged, "I'm not a mind reader."

"Ha, ha." Jane mocked.

Daria shushed her and pointed at the field.

Coach Gibson had just blown his whistle and was gathering his Lions around for a huddle.

"Ok boys," Gibson said with his oversized gut jiggling as he spoke, "Now I know things are looking bleak on the whole 'learning' thing. But don't worry, once all of this blows over I'm sure that the permanent principal next year will be more amendable."

The team cheered this.

"But in the meanwhile there is a good thing that's come out of all this…" Gibson said with a grin.

He then yelled, "You can come on out!"

From behind the coolers where Gibson had made him sit and wait for effect, everyone heard a very familiar voice mutter, "Finally my left butt cheek was falling asleep on the grass."

Then a figure rose from the shadows in full football gear, wearing a jersey with a number that they had unofficially retired when the player who was supposed to have it quit the sport.

"Hi guys," Mack said as he came into view, "Ready to play ball?"

"Mack Daddy!" Kevin yelled in triumph.

"Don't call me that." Mack muttered.

"Mack Daddy's back!" Kevin yelled again, and began to get the guys going with that as their chant.

Mack sighed and shook his head.

Gibson blew his whistled to get their attention.

"And one more thing," he said while patting Mack on the back, "Now Jamie's agreed to this so don't worry or nothing, but he's handing over the Team Captaincy to our old friend here, any objections?"

The yells of "No!" from the Lawndale Lions was effectively a unanimous vote.

Even Jamie White added his voice to the fray, looking as relieved as James Buchanan when he had handed over the keys to the White House and the Civil War to Abraham Lincoln.

"Now let's see if Mack's kept in form," Gibson said with a steely-eyed glint as he tossed a football at Mack, who caught it just in time to hear the whistle blow and Gibson yell,

"Now get back on the gridiron, I want to see you guys hustle!"

Out on the bleachers Jane said, "I thought Mack hated football."

Daria shook her head, "He hated playing it on other people's terms, now he can play on his own terms and find out if he likes the game that way, or not at all."

Jane mulled that for a moment before grinning, "Oh, that makes sense, in a twisted sort of way."

Daria laughed, "Everything in Lawndale is twisted. Or were you not paying attention?"

"I try not to, it keeps me sane-ish."

"Advice to live by." Daria said back before leaning back and watching the Lions practicing with Jane.

They were bored within two minutes and turned to their trusty notebooks and sketchpads for relief.


	22. XXII

**Mack the Esteemer (XXII)**

One thing that Jodie didn't understand was why the town's local High School was called 'Springbok High', when the damn town had 'Swede' in the name.

She hadn't understood it the first day she and Uncle Zack had come to enroll her, and understanding didn't come during her adjustment period.

"Then again Ms. Landon you've been preoccupied." A voice whispered lazily in her mind.

Jodie gave it a mental shrug as she began tapping her pencil on her desk, every few seconds her eyes fell on the clock, trying to will it to reach 3:05 so she could leave!

"Heh," Jodie chuckled softly and then thought about all the old stuff that occupied her time back in Lawndale compared to her new routine and concluded, "Time in class used to be my escape from work, now it is work!"

"Huh?"

Jodie glanced to the right and found one of her new friends looking at her inquisitively.

"It's nothing Paige," Jodie informed her with a shrug, "Just a brainfart."

The redhead chuckled, "Yeah, I get those a lot in this class."

"Ms. O'Keeffe! Ms. Landon!" Their science teacher, Mr. Kowalski snapped at them from the front, "Please pay attention."

"Sorry, Mr. Jowalski."

"Sorry guvnor." Paige added with a faux English accent.

Mr. Kowalski's mustache twitched but he let it slide and resumed his lecture on zygotes.

"God this is dull," Jodie muttered to herself, more softly this time, "Barch went over this in my Freshman year…"

3:05 couldn't come fast enough in Jodie's opinion.

* * *

Much to Jodie's relief, the Laws of Physics held true and school let out at the allotted time, and falling into her new pattern, she and Paige made a quick trip to their lockers before making a beeline for the school's parking lot.

Passing through the foyer and spotting a big yellow and black banner with the SHS logo of, you guessed it, a Springbok, Jodie contemplated the question from earlier again and shook her head.

Paige noticed this and as soon as the pair breached the main doors decided to ask, "So Jodie, what's with the sudden interest in school pride?"

Jodie laughed, "It's not that."

"Then what is it?" Pagie asked while scanning for their ride.

Jodie shrugged, "it's kind of a dumb question."

"Ok, shoot."

"Why is this school called 'Springbok High'? I mean wouldn't it make more sense for it to have something Swedish or… you know… something?"

"Like a reindeer?" Paige asked with a sly smirk.

That had both girls falling into a fit of chuckles.

"Well maybe," Jodie teased right back, "It'd make more sense than a springbok."

Paige just shook her head, "I dunno why we're the springboks, you should ask someone that knows crap about our school and it's crummy history."

Jodie began to formulate a reply but then Paige pointed and said, "There she is!" before picking up the pace.

Jodie found herself almost sprinting to catch up with her new mate, but she did manage to reach Paige's side before she came within range of their target, a white van that had seen better days.

"Gracie!" Paige yelled, "You here?"

"Yeah, I am." A voice emerged from behind them, a startled jump later found both girls staring at a petite Asian girl who was smirking at them both.

"Great!" Paige replied, recovering quickly, "Now let's get the hell out of here."

"We have to wait for the others." Gracie explained while unlocking her van and opening the driver's side door.

Paige seemed surprised as she snagged shotgun, leaving Jodie in the back, "What others?"

Gracie just chuckled darkly and pointed at two figures heading towards the van.

Jodie and Paige both looked and Jodie heard Page groan, "Oh, no! Why are you giving the Killian twins a ride?"

Gracie just laughed and started the engine but didn't put the vehicle into motion, but she did tell Jodie to open the sliding door.

Jodie did as she was asked, even while wondering what Paige's beef was with the Killains.

"They seem nice, if a little zany." Jodie noted as the two lean blond surfer looking guys reached the van.

"Thanks Landon," one of the twins said to her with a jaunty grin.

He was then punched in the shoulder and his brother said while sitting to Jodie's left, "Now Claus is that any way to greet a lady?"

Claus thought about it and said while shutting the door without missing a beat, "You know, you're right Lucas, I'm sorry Ms. Landon."

Jodie laughed even as Claus pivoted around her and sat down at the window, leaving her in the middle, "Guys you're making me sound like some flower of the court."

Both twins laughed in sync even as the van began pulling out and making the slow crawl through student traffic away from Springbok High.

In the front Paige glanced to make sure the twins weren't paying attention before asking Gracie, "Ok, what's the scoop?"

Gracie reached the turn lane and avoided the question and asked where everyone wanted to get food instead.

The twins yelled out, "Submart!"

Paige wanted to say suggest something else on general principal, but she couldn't think of anything better, so she muttered, "Submart it is."

Gracie then asked, "What about you Jodie?"

Jodie just shrugged, "I'm ok with whatever."

Gracie laughed, "Submart it is then."

As the van began the quick four block journey to the healthiest eatery in town, Paige asked her question again.

"What's with giving the twins a ride?"

Gracie glanced in the back and saw that Claus was telling Jodie an embarrassing story about his brother's one and only attempt at sneaking into her uncle's bar with a Fake ID before whispering, "You remember what happened to my ex this morning?"

Paige didn't need to be told twice and giggled softly, "You mean the thing with the live chicken, the taffy, and the bucket full of slimy old hot dogs?"

Gracie barely kept the giggles in as she nodded, and comprehension came to Paige.

"You got the twins to do that for you? Wow, I'm impressed."

"We were impressed with ourselves too." Lucas interjected from the back, revealing that Paige hadn't said that as quietly as she had believed.

"Oh yes," Claus added, "In fact we were so impressed that the impressiveness caused our fair Ms. Lee to give us free rides for a week or two."

"Or forever if we impress her with our charms some more." Lucas finished with a jaunty grin and a mock-salute.

Gracie couldn't hold in her laughter anymore and Paige had to remind her to pay attention to the road.

"Oh relax Ms. Worrywart," Lucas joked and pointed to a building with a familiar logo through the windshield, "We're nearly there."

"Good," Jodie said to maintain the peace, even though she wasn't certain of the dynamic at the moment, "I'm starving."

"Now we can't have that, can we?" Lucas joked as his brother fondled the door handle as Gracie reached the parking lot.

Jodie couldn't help it, she smiled, and not even Paige's exasperation with the Killian twins could kill it.

* * *

Once they had gotten their sandwich orders in, and found a table a comfortable distance away from the growing crowd, Jodie settled her quietly growling stomach with a big meatball sub with extra cheese.

"Wow," Gracie said as she watched Landon wolf down a foot long sub, "Where are you putting it?"

Jodie swallowed her latest bite, wiped her mouth primly with a napkin and replied, "My stomach."

Everyone laughed, even Gracie.

As she listened to the sound of it, Jodie was struck once more by how light and happy everything was now.

"Just barely a week ago you had just attempted suicide and now here you are…" That voice whispered to her again.

Jodie tried to ignore it as best she could, but it was something of a lost cause, the contrast between her old life and this budding new one was too big not to draw comparisons.

"Well things are going well," Jodie admitted to herself, "The stitches came out before I started classes, Uncle Zack pretty much forbade me joining any clubs, or getting a part-time job for that matter until next year. I mean I get why he wants me to have some time to myself but things are kind of tight at the moment."

Jodie decided to try and talk him into letting her apply for a waitressing job or something, even if it did cut into her time with her new friends Paige O'Keeffe and Gracie Lee.

Then she heard one of the twin's say, "Hey look, another Alternapalooza poster."

Jodie looked up and sure enough, there was a promo poster of what was the town's biggest money draws, the annual alt-rock festival.

"I doubt I would have been able to go back in Lawndale," Jodie thought darkly, "Maybe next year though, when Uncle Zack is on surer footing…"

The other twin laughed, "I guess the city thinks we're dumb as hell and don't know when the concert's supposed to happen."

Paige and Gracie both laughed, "Yeah!"

Jodie smiled a little and took another bite out of her sandwich.

"You know…" Lucas said slyly, "Our cousin is working for the vendors this year, he can get us tickets on a discount…"

"Hell yeah!" Gracie breathed with uncharacteristic swearing.

Paige shrugged, "The loud music might make you two more bearable."

Claus and Lucas both gave Paige devilish grins, "Oh you wound us!"

Paige shrugged, "Tell it to someone who cares…"

"Oh Claus," Lucas said while miming being stabbed in the heart, "She's stabbed me to the quick! Avenge me…"

"Oh please tell me you're not…" Paige muttered, knowing what was coming next.

"AVENGE ME!" Lucas yelled in an impressive theatrical bellow and then fake-died.

"Oh poor brother of mine," Claus said with faux-sadness to the 'corpse' n the plastic booth next to him, "Your early parting from the world shall be paid for, by having all three of these fine ladies join us at Alternapalooza."

Even Paige couldn't resist laughing at that, even though there weren't two people in the world who drove her to madness more than the Killian twins.

Lucas 'came back' to life and grabbed at his turkey sub and began eating with gusto, taking their laughter as ascent to the plan.

"I don't have anything on my schedule," Jodie said, enjoying her inside joke for one.

A couple weeks ago that statement would have been a lie of epic proportions.

Claus Killian gave her a big grin and gave her a shock by taking her hand and kissing the top of it and said, "Great mi'lady!"

Jodie couldn't resist another laugh at his ham-acting, not noticing the appraising look that Claus was giving her, or the glance from Lucas at his brother and a slight nod of approval.

But Jodie did realize that her now upcoming trip to Alternapalooza was bound to be eventful.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Jodie told herself firmly, knowing that Uncle Zack would give his blessing for this without any trouble.

It seemed to make him happy seeing her behaving more like a teenage than like the perfect Jodie-doll that she had been molded into, and was doing her best to break out of.

"But I really should get a job of some sort." She then thought, beginning to worry about not bringing in her fair share to her and Uncle Zack's household.

However that thought was interrupted by Gracie asking Paige how her makeup history test went and the redhead began to complain about how Mrs. Turner made the test twice as hard as it needed to be.

Jodie leaned back into her seat and finished off her meatball sub and was tempted to order a second one.

There wasn't anything to worry about, since Uncle Zack was pretty permissive with her comings and goings, and without a soul-crushing set of extracurriculars to deal with…

"I can do this all day." Jodie thought to herself before offering her own take on Paige's history test woes.

Just like any other teenage girl.


End file.
